


Forestfell

by You_Light_The_Sky



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: ASL Frisk, Alternate Universe, Dark, Fairy Tale inspired, Frisk Protection Squad, Frisk is Bae, Gen, Horror, Mute Frisk, No one can die, Pacifist Frisk, Past Child Abuse, Protective Everyone, Reader Is Frisk, Violence, gender neutral frisk, temporary deaths
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-07-28 23:36:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 41,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7661608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/You_Light_The_Sky/pseuds/You_Light_The_Sky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A child, who can’t seem to die, wanders into a never-ending forest filled with monsters forced to kill, with a reluctant flower as their companion. Beware the mirror. Beware the king. Above all, child, s t a y..  d e t e r m i n e d.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. i fell into petals

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to try a dark undertale AU after seeing all these underfell posts... but I wanted to create my own AU and this is how ForestFell came to be. I've been working on this since January... I have 6/12 chapters done so far. Hopefully I can finish it by this Fall. I hope you enjoy it :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The blue art at the beginning was done in December 2016 while the other two were done early January 2016. I think I've improved =D

 

 

** Forestfell **

** Part 1: i fell into petals **

**Before:**

[XXXXX?]

“What _now_ , Frisk?”

It’s so cold. You try to reach for their hand but they push you so hard that snow starts eating the feeling in your cheeks.

“Stop being a baby already! I can’t watch over you forever, stupid!”

 _We promised_ … you think, you try to say. Except no sound comes out. Nothing ever does, anymore. You fiddle with your fingers, try to remember the signs for your words. But XXXXX doesn’t stop walking. Their silhouette blurs farther and farther into white until their footsteps are gradually eaten by the snow.

 _Wait,_ you try to scream, hands reaching out.

The wind tries to knock you over, it slips your feet over each other.

XXXXX…!

You fall into an unwilling kiss with ice and snow.

 _Don’t leave me,_ you gasp, while snow greedily says that it won’t.

The cold suffocates you to sleep.

-

**Now:**

There’s a flower pressed against your hand, as if the petals are looking for sunshine in your fingertips. The poor thing looks slightly wilted, like worn curtains hanging in an abandoned home. Its faded yellow makes you realize how dark it is.

Dark?

Quickly you sit up, flowers rustling around you as if in protest, and you gape at all the surrounding greenery. Instead of snow, you see vines clinging to tall imposing trees. Their branches block out the sky but you think it must be night. Moonlight has a way of painting pearly silvers among the shadows, of putting a slight hue of gray through trickling leaves.

No snow in sight and yet it’s so cold. You shiver into your cloak and reach for, reach for—

You can’t remember their name. Or their face. Or anything but the word ‘Frisk’ and that you’ve never been apart from… from _them_ before. But who...?

Where are they? Are they safe? Are they cold too? Who will hug them or keep them from being angry at the world?

Did they… did they leave you?

 _No_ , you whimper, tears choking out of you. All you can hear is your own panicked breathing. Your voice, there’s… there’s something _wrong_ with it. Before you know it, your hands are clawing at your throat and you try to say words, _anything_ , but nothing comes out.

The tree trunks suddenly feel like prison bars, keeping you sequestered in the dark, and you curl up against the flowers, wishing you could whimper. At least the sound of your own voice could distract you from the urge to scream. A stupid thought. If you’re already screaming, why would you want to?

But _they’re gone_. Whoever _they_ are. They’ve never left you before (you’re not sure how you know this, but this is a fact, like the sky is up and earth is down and _they_ are never really nice but you can’t imagine not being near _them_.) Did you do something wrong? You must have. You’re so small and you feel cold all the time and you can’t stop shaking or—

The flower’s practically plastered against your face and you realize that it’s trying to absorb your tears. You sniff, a smile itching at your lips when you reach out to brush your mittens against the flower’s petals.

 _Thank you_ , you would say if you could speak, though you have a feeling _they_ would have scoffed to see you talking to plants. They seem to be that kind of person.

_Stop being a baby already!_

Yes. That’s right. _They_ called you a baby and look at you, acting like one again.

[ _We promised_.] You take off your mittens and lift your fingers up to sign the words, letter by letter, feeling comforted in the fluttering shapes. Like butterflies. Or a magician, doing magic.

You’re not sure what you promised _them_ but you know that it means that _they_ would never leave you. Not on purpose. You may not know who or where you are but you know this must be true (it has to be, it has to, hastohasto—)

They must be in trouble. You have to help them.

Seeing the flowers inch closer to you, as if to gather your tears, fills you with Determination. You’ll find _them,_ whoever they are, no matter what it takes.

You stand up and look around at the forest. Dark shadows and trees surround you at all sides, and while you feel small, you muster up your strength and walk straight into the darkness.

-

Your cloak’s fabric is so thin, like silk except not nearly as smooth. In the dark, it looks like a sickening crimson, the kind of red you would see in an old scab. But you’re sure that in the daylight, the cloak must shine red like ripe strawberries in the summer. You’re grateful for the colour though, maybe someone will see you in the dark and some of your memory will come back if you recognize them.

If only the flowers weren’t slowing you down. Then you could move faster, cover more ground. But everywhere you step, flower vines seem to cling to your worn boots and you have to stop to untangle yourself (you’d hate to crush any vines unnecessarily.) You always pet the vines gently and, maybe you’re imagining it, but they seem to move more easily each time you do.

You’ve barely moved three meters from where you woke up before you hear a scream.

Crows begin to caw like they’re laughing at the screamer and you don’t even think. You tear your boots off, letting the flowers hold on to them and sprint towards the direction of the scream, thinking, _don’t let it be ‘them’, don’t let ‘them’ be hurt_ , while the vines try to catch up to you.

But you have to keep going, you can’t stop. Not when you can help, and before you know it, you’re suddenly bursting into a clearing where _things_ are surrounding a quivering flower (?)

“Get the hell away from me,” the flower (?) snarls at the other creatures (??) Its face actually changes with the tone of its voice, from a generic expression to one with fangs.

The other creatures look like an assortment of frogs and moldy things that would look harmless if not for the red, hungry glow in their eyes or the sadistic smirks. Your back hits a tree trunk, you didn’t even realize that you were stepping back. You can’t help it. Those eyes, those smirks, they look so…

White projectiles come out of the frogs and the moldy things, shooting towards the hissing flower, and you think _not this time_ , and before you know it, you’ve jumped in front of the flower, and there’s a light, as red as the cloak you are wearing, and pain, and then—

You slip into the cold (so familiar) while the flower screams the only name you remember.

-

“…isk?! Frisk, _please_ , wake up! You’ll come back right? Everyone comes back here. Frisk, please…”

You gasp, your lips shaping words until you remember to use your fingers to form a thumbs up. The voice seems to sigh in relief and before you know it, you’re being slapped by a leaf.

“You idiot! Do you know how worried I was that the curse wouldn’t work on you?!”

 _Curse?_ Finally you open your eyes and you stare at the talking flower in question. _What are you talking about?_ you mouth before you remember that your voice doesn’t work and you sign the question instead.

The Flower frowns and tells you to slow your fingers down so it can follow their movements. Then it just looks tired, leaves drooping to the ground. You finally notice the vines around your arms, like the Flower was trying to hold on to you after everything went black. There are other yellow flowers here too now, but none of them have faces. None of them have stitched up lines on their petals, like this Flower does.

“…Right. Of course you don’t know.”

The Flower hunches even more to the soil, like the dirt will talk back. Gently, you put your hand under the Flower’s petals and lift its face back up so you can look at each other face to face.

[ _Are you okay?_ ] you sign, trying to make your hands convey the calming sight of butterfly wings.

It actually scoffs at you (rude) but its eyes are glassy. That’s not right. Flowers shouldn’t be so sad. You sign this and the Flower laughs at you.

“I don’t get it,” the Flower shakes its head. “Why are you always so nice? I don’t deserve it.”

[ _Do you know me?_ ] You try not to sign too quickly, but this could be another clue!

The Flower recoils from you. “What?! You don’t… You don’t _remember_ me? Anything?”

Its despair makes you wish that you at least recalled who the Flower was. But you only shake your head.

The Flower goes quiet.

You tug at its petal again and you sign [ _sorry_ ].

“Stop that,” the Flower snaps, “it’s not your fault. It’s mine. I should have known it wouldn’t be this easy. I just thought… I dunno what I thought…”

For a moment, you don’t know what to do. All you know is that this Flower is the only thing, only being, to recognize you and you don’t want to let it down. It should be smiling, but _how_ … wait…

Quietly, you tap it on the leaf and sign, [ _sorry I don’t remember our r-o-o-t-s together. We must have been pretty i-n-t-e-r-t-w-i-n-e-d_.]

You wink.

The Flower’s jaw drops. “Did you just…”

[ _Like two p-e-a-s in a p-o-d_ ,] you add.

“OH my _god_ , stop!” the Flower snorts. But you count it as a giggle.

[ _Did we g-r-o-w up together?_ ]

“I swear if you don’t stop with these plant puns, I will tie you to a tree and leave you here. But to answer your question, no, we didn’t know each other well,” the Flower looks away. “I… regret that, I think. I don’t know.”

Before you can ask what’s wrong, the Flower goes on. “I just… found you sleeping and I carried you here. Some monsters ambushed us so I left you in a field of my flowers and tried to draw them off…”

 _Monsters_ , you mouth. They looked like ordinary creatures, at first. But the red in their eyes… that didn’t seem natural, monster or not. You remembered that they attacked the Flower, but you jumped in the way and then…

[ _I… I died!_ ] You try to stop your hands from trembling but you can’t help it. That pain was real. Everything went cold and—

“Welcome to Forestfell,” the Flower says bitterly, “where no one can die and no one can leave. Here, it’s kill or be killed. Here, it’s keep killing every day or face the consequences.”

Your head shakes. No. This can’t be. But suddenly you’re reminded of the monsters from before. What happened to them after you ‘died’? Where…?

On the only patch of dirt that doesn’t have protective flowers, you see several piles of ash. They look twisted, sad somehow, and somewhere in your mind, you hear someone tell you that this is what happens to monsters when they die.

It’s impossible for you to stop your hands from trembling now. [ _Did you…?_ ]

The Flower looks over at the ashpiles and sneers, its features twisted into an unrecognizable thing. “What did you expect me to do? They _killed_ you. I didn’t know if you were coming back like everyone else does. I had to teach them a _lesson_.”

If your head keeps shaking like this, it might pop off.

[ _NO!_ ] you gesture fiercely, [ _Even if they come back later, killing is wrong!_ ]

“What else can I do?! They would have killed me if I hadn’t! They _killed you,_ don’t you understand that?! We have to survive!”

You stomp your foot down. You’re not sure why you feel so repulsed by this but there’s an image fluttering in the back of your memory. Something red. Something that made you swear you’d never hurt anything. Not if you could help it.

[ _There must be another way. You said this is a curse. What did you mean? Is there something making the monsters do this?_ ]

The Flower hesitates. “There’s nothing you can do—”

[ _Tell me_.]

“—but yeah. I’m not sure how it works exactly, but the curse makes everyone’s negative emotions… bigger. Greater. Compels you to be your worst self.”

[ _Then we can break it. Let’s find a way out of the forest—_ ]

“No one can leave. This forest has no freaking end. That’s part of the curse. No one can die. No one can stop killing. No one can leave. It’s been going on for ages. Just give up. We’re probably the only sane ones left.”

You can’t imagine that. Being trapped in a world where everyone has to kill you, will always try to kill you.

[ _But… why are we so different…?_ ]

Could there be something in yourself and in the Flower that you could encourage in other monsters?

The Flower only laughs darkly. “I can’t feel emotions. Hard to feel anger when you just don’t give a damn. And you? You’re… new. I didn’t even think you’d wake up. Maybe you’ll get cursed eventually too. Who knows. Don’t even know why I bothered trying to save you if that’s gonna be the case.”

No emotions?

But… that can’t be true. You remember waking up in a field of flowers and feeling somewhat comforted. You remember how those flowers pressed against you and your tears. How can they come from something that can’t feel?

You don’t realize that you’re tearing up until the Flower stutters, “W-Wait, what the h-hell are you d-doing, s-stop, stop _leaking damn it!_ ” and suddenly you can’t stop laughing either.

How lonely. How terribly lonely not to feel or talk to anyone who isn’t trying to kill it. Only saving a child out boredom, out of hope that maybe this child can’t feel too and is as immune as the Flower is.

Are _they_ lonely too? Are _they_ trapped in this forest as well, forced to kill others?

Suddenly you can’t stand the thought of crying while _they_ might be trapped here too.

[ _There has to be a way_.]

You stand up and you offer a hand to the Flower.

“Hey, what are you doing?!”

[ _I have to try_.]

“You’re just going to get yourself killed! Again!”

You shrug.

The Flower stares at you. “I don’t… I don’t understand. Why are you doing this? Why aren’t you running away?”

[ _I have to find someone._ ]

“Who?”

[… _I don’t remember_.]

The Flower looks unimpressed.

[ _But I can’t let them be cursed as well. And even if they’re not here, I can’t stay. I won’t let this continue_ ,] you sign fiercely, imagining your hands are full of fire, burning your emotions into the air.

“Don’t be stupid! You—”

[ _Come with me_ ,] you keep your hand open.

For a moment, the Flower doesn’t speak. The quiet stretches out so long that the ashpiles begin to stir, slowly reforming into their monster selves. You have to take your hand away, as you step in front of the Flower, wary of the monsters coming back to attack it again.

“Oh for Mount’s sake! Fine! Just stop jumping in front of every threat that comes your way! If I don’t come, you’ll just be covered in scars and no one will recognize you!”

Scars? You make a mental note to ask the Flower later. For now, you’re grinning so widely the Flower actually slaps your cheek in annoyance.

“Shut up. You’re the only sane company around here. I’m sticking around until that changes. Geez, your neck is _freezing_.”

[ _What’s your name?_ ]

The Flower is quiet for a long time. So quiet that the monsters actually reform and as you run through the woods, you nearly miss its answer.

“…Call me Flowey.”

Not the most creative of names, but it makes you giggle.

You still feel so cold but Flowey’s vines around your shoulder make you feel like you could run across oceans.

-

**Before:**

“I wish you didn’t exist,” XXXXX whispers once, when you’re both supposed to be sleeping. They say mean things like this sometimes, when they feels the whole world is silent.

You keep your breathing steady and you don’t dare move under the covers.

“If you didn’t exist, I’d be happy,” XXXXX says.

When XXXXX drifts off to sleep, you stay awake. You wish XXXXX would let you cling to their hand at night. You can’t sleep well with wet spots on your pillow, after all.

-

**Now:**

“H-hey! What’s wrong?! You… you’re leaking again!” Flowey looks back and forth from your tears to your hunched shoulders.

You’re wheezing against another tree trunk. You don’t think you’re made for running and now…

[ _Are you a ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘neither’?_ ] you sign, trying to distract poor Flowey from dealing with emotions. [ _Or ‘both’?_ ] you consider, because you think that’s a possibility as well.

Flowey doesn’t look fooled but takes the conversation change anyways. “Male. Why?”

It suddenly feels very hard to move your hands. You feel heavy, like the whole forest will collapse on you if you sign. But slowly, you do it.

[ _I don’t feel like a ‘he.’ Or ‘she.’ Kind of neither. Kind of in-between._ ]

“Okay,” Flowey stares. “And?”

 _I don’t know_ , you shrug. But for some reason, you can’t stop crying again.

Flowey doesn’t say anything. He only presses another flower to your face and you recall that it’s a buttercup. You recall that it’s poison.

You breathe it in anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: In the original work doc, XXXXX was just blacked out but AO3 doesn't let that carry over unfortunately


	2. i fell into fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: a lot disturbing content regarding temporary deaths

** **

** Part 2: i fell into fire **

**Before:**

XXXXXX cries a lot by the window. Usually when you and XXXXX are playing (or attempting to play, on your part. XXXXX doesn’t like to share) or when it’s night. She’s like XXXXX in that way. They both like to talk at night, when they think no one is listening. Both would hate the comparison.

You don’t see XXX very much but when he’s home, XXXXXX doesn’t cry. She always stares at the floor with tight lips. You used to hear slaps downstairs whenever he was home. They were the kind of slaps made your stomach twist and you wanted to curl up with XXXXX and never wake up. On those nights, XXXXX let you hold their hand.

But you never went down stairs to see what the slaps were.

You wish you had. Maybe then XXXXXX wouldn’t have been so silent when XXX decided to take you outside to the snow.

She didn’t look at either of you that day.

-

**Now:**

“Just _run away, you idiot!_ ” Flowey screams as you dodge another barrage of white attacks. Dogs this time. Dogs in armor. They look like they haven’t eaten in weeks.

You haven’t eaten in a while either.

So many roots. You stumble and scratch your cloak amongst all the branches. Your feet must be bleeding now. You should have tried to find your boots again but there’s no time to pause. Every time you come across a monster, Flowey yells the same thing and you just run. Better not to die or fight before you find any clues.

But the trees keep going on, you don’t know if you’re going in the same direction or just going in circles. Nothing seems to change except different painted arrows on the trunks. You’ve been seeing them more and more frequently. Different arrows or lines splattered in various colours, denoting different monster territories.

 _Froggit here_. _Whimsel’s dwelling. Hell to pay if you cross Undyne_. _Hail the King._

The names swirl in your head until they’re a mashed up soup of letters. You just want to go home. Wherever that is. You just want to find _them_.

You fall, tasting dirt and splintered bark and Flowey hisses next to you, probably about to dust the chasing dogs but you wave ‘no’ with your hands and—

Fire lights up the woods, casts long bars of shadow across everyone’s face, as it blasts the Dog monsters away. The Dogs snarl at the attack but whimper as their fur starts to burn. They run (thankfully) before they can be dust and you are left almost hyperventilating on against the ground.

Someone steps towards you. You close your eyes, and wait for the attack that will bring back the colder cold.

Instead you feel fur brush against your cheek. Then you’re yanked up by the face and squeezed against a chest.

“Are you alright, dear child?” that someone says. “Those horrible things didn’t make you bleed, did they?”

You look up and see a beautiful monster resembling a goat. There’s a glinting scar, like a tear, dripping down from her eye to her chin. Normally the scar would seem terrifying but not on her. She looks so soft and cuddly but her purple robes look tattered with traces of ash at the corners. There are even brownish-red stains at the edges of her sleeves and you think that her fur might have been shiny once, but now it looks worn out.

Flowey tenses against your shoulder. Hides his face in your cloak. You think you can feel him shaking but you’re not sure.

Instinctively, you try to speak. Then you remember your hands and tap against the goat woman’s arm so she can see them.

[ _Am okay. Thank you_ ,] you sign nervously. She… reminds you of something. But you don’t think you know her. You think you’d remember someone as comfy looking as her.

“But your knees are scrapped! And your lovely cloak is ruined! Your _feet_. Oh, you shouldn’t _lie_ , child. Come, I’ll take you somewhere safe. No one will ever hurt you again…”

She gathers you up before you can protest but she feels so warm, like something from a dream, that you can’t bring yourself to protest. Besides, your eyes won’t stop drooping. You can’t run for much longer, not without a place to rest or food.

Flowey was probably wrong. This forest is so huge that there has to be other people not affected by the curse. Everyone else you met so far attacked first instead of talking. She’s the first one who actually talked to you first.

You try to look to Flowey but he’s still hidden under your cloak. Still silent.

Frowning, you trace a question mark on his petal.

He only wraps his vines tighter around you.

-

Toriel, as the goat woman introduces herself later, seems to know where she’s going. She murmurs a lot under her breath and pets you on the head every few minutes. You may not remember much about yourself but you feel like no one’s ever done that for you before and you feel less cold. Sure, her claws a bit rough sometimes against your scalp, but you don’t mind. Toriel probably doesn’t know her own strength on a human.

You wonder if there are other humans here, too, in this forest. Do they turn to dust too, in this world? Or just bleed out?

(You’d ask Flowey but… somehow you don’t think it’s appropriate to ask.)

To you, Toriel seems to be walking in zig zags. Sometimes she pauses and goes the other direction, murmuring something about red leaves and switches. Eventually, she stops in front of a huge wall of different branches brought together like a sinister dam. The way the branches are bunched together, so that their sharp sides face the forest ceiling, make them seem like arms, raking the air for any moonlight.

But Toriel doesn’t appear to mind, as she lights up a symbol against the dam-wall. Fire traces across the branches in that shape with some triangles and wings until a door forms and she walks through with you.

Instantly, cold mist seems to press against you in sheets. You feel like you’ve stepped into the breath of a freezer, not quite in it but not far enough to escape its chill. You rub your hands together, wishing you had gloves instead of mittens, so you could sign and be a bit warmer.

Thankfully, there are little fire orbs floating around the inside barriers of the branched walls. More monster magic, probably. You wish you could get a closer look, see if the flames will heat up your face, but Toriel quickly brings you towards a cute little cottage at the center of the branched enclosure.

You can’t help but gape. The cottage looks so cozy, exactly the place you’d imagine for a nice looking being like Toriel. But you notice that vines crawl over the cottage walls too, like the vines on all the trees in the forest, except these vines don’t have leaves. No, these vines are like wooden bones, asking to come inside.

Toriel opens the door using the same fire trick and the cool mist is less present here. You still feel traces of its chill in the air but you no longer have the urge to shiver. You’re still cold, but not as much.

Just when you try to move out of her arms, Toriel huffs in disapproval, cooing over your feet and she sets you in an old armchair by the fire. Before you can say more, Toriel rushes out of the sitting room and returns with a cloth and some water.

She dips your feet in the bucket without asking and you flinch from reflex.

“I know it hurts,” she rubs your feet roughly, “but this is for your own good. We wouldn’t want an infection to start in those pretty little feet of yours, would we?”

Flowey wiggles sharply under your cloak but you feel your eyes tear up for some reason. Her words, they make you wish…

[… _Thank you,_ ] you sign when you’re sure your hands won’t shake.

“Of course, dear,” Toriel says sweetly.

The bandages around your feet feel a bit tight but that’s alright. You’re not bleeding anymore and you’re safe. Maybe you can even sleep. You try to move off the armchair but Toriel pushes you back in.

“You must be so hungry,” she rushes towards the kitchen. “Thank goodness I made snail pie. Don’t move, dear. I’ll take care of everything.”

She does.

You try to get up to help her so many times but she seems to appear out of nowhere, leading you back to your seat with a firm grip or surprising you with another extra blanket she found. By the time she comes out with food, you feel like a burrito, wrapped up snug in layers of cotton.

“There, aren’t you cozy? Maybe that will warm up your little hands all _ice_ and warm! Get it? _Ice_?” her laughter comes out a bit forced.

You try to smile at her joke but she starts to feed you spoonfuls of pie and soup. You can barely keep up with chewing but she only smiles and talks about her favourite snail facts and laughs too hard at jokes you don’t have time to absorb. You’re starting to feel full (who knew snails tasted so good?) and try to refuse the last few bites but Toriel only smiles and pats your head.

“I’m sure you can eat more. You must be so hungry, child,” she coos and you can’t bring yourself to refuse.

When you finally finish the pie, Flowey still hasn’t moved, and Toriel moves you onto her lap. Her scar glints in the firelight.

She shushes you when you try to speak. “No need to talk of unpleasant things anymore, child. You must be so tired. Shall I sing you a lullaby?”

She wraps her arms around you before you can reply and begins to hum a pretty tune over and over until she falls asleep by the fire. Her fur is better than the layers of blankets around you and you can’t remember if anyone ever sang to you before.

You stay there, wondering if you have a mom out there who smells just like Toriel and has the same hugs.

You hope so.

-

“...Frisk, we need to leave. Right now,” Flowey whispers when Toriel starts to snore softly.

His voice is muffled under all the blankets but eventually he manages to climb out of the blankets to your neck. You frown but Flowey can’t see it from this angle so you settle for a shrug and hope Flowey understands the meaning.

“She’s… Look, she’s probably dangerous. More dangerous than you know, _especially_ if she’s all talking instead of fighting first.”

 _But you and I are different, why can’t Toriel be too?_ you say, but alas, no voice. You scowl and wiggle around, making Toriel mutter in her sleep and Flowey hiss at you to be careful. Eventually you free one of your hands and trace a question mark on Flowey’s leaf again.

“What? You’re asking _why_? Look, I can’t explain right now. We gotta go! Now!”

 _N-i-c-e_ , you trace.

“You think she’s _nice?_ Well yeah, she is, I guess. But not anymore. The curse, it’s still here, Frisk. I don’t know why she’s not killing us now but we can’t trust anyone!”

Except, Flowey trusts _you_ , doesn’t he? You don’t understand why he’s willing to put up with you but doesn’t want to be anywhere near Toriel. She’s so… good compared to you. Perfect. She just feels comforting and she saved you and why would she do that if she was going to fight you later?

You close your eyes.

“Hey! What are you _doing?!_ Are you ignoring me?! Frisk! _Frisk!_ ”

Quietly, you write _t-i-r-e-d_ on his petals. Flowey is still for a moment before he mutters. “Fine. But only for tonight. In the morning, we leave.”

You pretend to sleep.

Flowey grumbles to himself and burrows himself back in the cocoon of blankets.

 _Sorry Flowey_ , you think, _I don’t want to choose._

-

**Before:**

_Sorry_ XXXXXX, you think, tears streaming down your face when you hear the slaps downstairs, _I don’t want to choose._

XXXXX’s hand is so tight against yours that you almost wake thinking you’re chained to shackles.

-

**Now:**

In the morning, you wake up to even more blankets than before. There are so many that you see folds of cotton flooding out of the chair, making the floor a marshmallow carpet. You have an urge to jump into them and you do, silently not-giggling when Flowey grumbles in your cloak.

“Ah, child, what are you doing on the floor? You’ll get hurt again!” Toriel scoops you up and rearranges the blankets around you once more.

You try to sign but Toriel nuzzles your head. Her scar feels sharp against your hair.

“You mustn’t move. I will take care of it,” she holds out another plate of pie. It’s burnt, like the one from last night, but it still tastes wonderful. The last meal you had (before the forest, before Toriel) must have been… a while ago… probably.

In between bites, you wonder how you’re going to sneak food to Flowey. He must be as hungry as you are but you forgot about him last night when you were being fed pie. You tap him in question and he shakes his head (at least you think he does.) Do Flowers even eat solid food? Maybe he got nutrients from the soil earlier…

When you finish the pie, (feeling terribly full, you didn’t want to see the stern look on Toriel’s face again when you refused to eat) Toriel lifts you up towards the bookshelf and picks a book. Immediately she curls up with you and starts reading out loud. _Little Blue Wolf and the Red Child._

Flowey tenses against you as Toriel intensely tells the story of a poor Little Blue Wolf that was trying to find their way home, only to be chased by a violent human with a knife and a red hood. The story makes you sniffle and for a moment, you’re disgusted with yourself for wearing red.

But if Toriel notices, she doesn’t say a word. Only happily moves on to the next tale about Monsters trapped underground, terrorized by an angel of death that sometimes made the day repeat and repeat until the angel’s twin, mercy, came to the underground instead. For some reason, this story makes you shiver as you imagine the angel of death with a happy smile and mercy with a tired face.

The next story is about three little monsters who are trapped in a cottage with a terrible human sorcerer named Goldilocks and how the monsters have to push her into an oven to escape. You don’t like that story much either but you’re glad the monsters got to live.

Suddenly, a whistle blows in the other room and Toriel jumps up, muttering something about lunch, and you’re left on the floor with all these blankets and books.

“Now’s our chance,” Flowey whispers. “We should go.”

You shake your head.

“ _Frisk!_ ” Flowey starts pulling the blankets off of you. He tugs at your wrist.

[ _But Toriel…_ ]

“She’s bad news, I’m telling ya!”

But you want to stay and hear stories. You want to close your eyes and pretend everything’s alright.

Flowey looks ready to wrap you up in vines and drag you out of the cottage, if necessary. But then he pauses and he smirks.

“Weren’t you going to try to leave? Go find the person you’re looking for? They’re not Toriel. They can’t be. But if you stay here, you’ll never find them.”

You feel dizzy again. That’s right. You had to find _them_. You can’t stay.

Slowly, you swallow up your protests and shakily get up. You ignore Flowey’s smug gaze when he climbs back on your shoulder and you don’t bother taking anything else besides your own clothes. Toriel will probably need it.

Robotically, you move forward, thoughts of _have to find them, have to find them,_ fueling your stinging feet. On the way to the door, you pass in front of a mirror, and can’t help but shiver at your expression. It’s you. Tired, scared you. But there’s something missing.

You keep going.

Your fingertips are at the door handle when you hiss at the hot temperature of the metal. Your palm is pink now and Flowey looks like he’s going to rip the door off when—

“What are you doing up, my child? I thought I told you not to move,” Toriel says, sounding so distraught that you wish you could evaporate on the spot.

“Are you…” Toriel lowers her head, “are you leaving me…?”

[ _I’m sorry_!] you sign frantically (but of course, she can’t see if she’s not looking, can she?), [ _I just, I have to…_ ]

Toriel’s shoulders start to quiver and you panic. Adults aren’t supposed to cry ( _lies_ , something in you says, _adults cry all the time, remember_ XXXXXX?) You are a terrible human being for making her sad. The worst.

Despite Flowey’s protests, you step towards her, tugging at her sleeve and trying to make her see what you sign. [ _I have to go find someone I lost… I’m sorry_. _Please understand_.]

Toriel only grips at your hand, so tight that you think you won’t be able to pry her away. But wait! You brighten up and Flowey narrows his eyes, “Frisk, don’t you dare ask—”

[ _Why don’t you come with me?_ ]

“—her to come with you… Damn it!”

This must be what it’s like to have magic powers because suddenly Toriel stops gripping you so tightly. She looks first, at Flowey (who shrinks back against your neck) and then at you. For a minute, you see something in her eyes… but instead, she cradles your fingers like they are precious and you just want to hug her, tell her it’s alright.

“…Yes. Of course. What a wonderful idea, child. You’ll stay with me, now. We’ll be together,” Toriel whispers, still staring at your hands.

Your shoulders relax. Why didn’t you ask her sooner? Of course, Toriel would understand.

“Yes, yes, it’s a promise. Oh, child, we’ll be so happy. I’ll watch over you forever. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” Toriel presses your hand against her shoulder.

“ _Frisk_ ,” Flowey tugs.

“We have so much to pack. Isn’t it lucky that I made more pie? Why don’t you be a dear and go downstairs and get it for me? It’s in the fridge.”

“ _Frisk—_ ”

You nod happily and rush towards the steps you see in the main lobby. Gravity invites you down, tugging you until you hit the last step and see a dark room lined with fridges. How odd. Toriel must cook a lot of pies in her spare time.

For some reason, you decide to move to the fridge in the middle. Flowey tugs at you, “ _Something’s not right here_ ,” but you ignore it because you know Toriel is good. You can feel it in your Soul.

You open the fridge but…

…It’s empty.

Hm. Maybe the pie is in the other fridges, you consider. But when you turn around, Toriel’s there. Her smile is so wide, you can see the tips of her fangs glinting from the fridge’s light.

“Thank you for staying with me, child,” Toriel says sweetly.

Then there’s fire and you see something red glowing again from your chest and pain and Flowey roaring, ‘I’ll kill you’ and _slam_ , you’re stuck, it’s so small and cold and Toriel just pats you on the head and whispers that you’re a good child, aren’t you—

“Now you’ll never leave me,” she shuts the door.

You bleed out.

-

**Before:**

You’re curled up with XXXXX on the floor. XXXXX is wrapped up in their red cloak and you make do with your torn blue one. XXXXX always looks better in red anyways. They’re the only things XXXXXX made for you both that still fits.

[ XXXXX?] you tug at their sleeve and write on their palm.

“Urgh, just go to sleep, Frisk,” they grumble, moving farther away from you. That’s okay. XXXXX likes their space.

[… _Do you ever have wishes?_ ] you keep writing on their palm anyways.

“ _Ohmygod, gotosleep_ ,” they moan.

But it’s hard to sleep when the wind likes to sneak past the cracks in the windows and fiddle with the covers. It’s hard to sleep when you hear the slaps again.

“Fine! Yes, I do. I wish you’d shut up and go to bed and leave me alone.”

That makes you smile. XXXXX is always so funny.

“That’s an insult, idiot. Not a compliment. And I’d wish for xxxxxxxxx, the good kind that you buy for more than ten bucks.”

A good wish, you nod.

“…and you?” XXXXX asks reluctantly.

You don’t answer.

“Oi.”

[ _I wish_ XXXXXX _didn’t feel lonely anymore._ ]

XXXXX snorts. “If you think _loneliness_ is her problem than you are more an idiot than I thought. Go back to sleep.”

-

You wish you had told them that, no, you didn’t believe Loneliness was the only problem. But you thought it might help. You don’t remember why it would.

-

**Now:**

Your teeth chatter when you gasp back to life. The blood is dry against your cloak and pants, leaving only dark stains. Flowery is frozen stiff against your neck, his face stuck in anguish.

Immediately, you reach towards him, careful not to shatter his stem or leaves. You shake him, wish you could shout. But he remains frozen. You’re all alone. Your elbows keep banging against the cold walls. There’s nowhere to go. You can’t stand or stretch out or lie down to cry or—

Why isn’t it dark?

You look down at your chest. You see that familiar red, a bright vibrant strawberry, and you can’t believe that you’re staring at a floating red heart. You see a sliver of silver running through the middle of it, a sliver that seems to encircle the heart completely in half.

Quietly, you move to touch it and are surprised by the ticklish feeling you get. _Is this… me?_ you wonder. You can recall something red appearing when the Froggit and Moldsold attacked you before, when Toriel shoved—no, no, don’t think about that.

In any case, your heart-thing is glowing so brightly that you can’t help but feel inspirited. There must be a way out. You’re alive again. There _must_ be a way out. And then, and then—( _such a good child_ )—no, no, think of that later. Save Flowery first.

You grope around all the walls of the fridge, feeling number as the seconds pass by. No magical keyholes appear. And you can barely muster up enough strength to lift your arms anymore. You’ll die here again. You don’t know why you’re not frozen like Flowey yet. Because you’re bigger, probably.

Still, the red heart keeps glowing.

 _Stop it_ , you try to tell your heart. But hearts are not good at listening to what you want. They never are.

So you hang your head against the door instead, trying not to cry. Your tears will only freeze on your cheek anyways. Your heart crouches low with you, until it’s nearly touching the door, casting a weird red glow on it. In another world, you think, maybe light could paint its glow on the things it touches.

You stop. You remember Toriel ( _such a good_ —no stop) using fire to draw a symbol on the doors!

Quickly, you coax your heart to move in the same patterns. A wing. A circle. Another wing for the triangle. And some little triangles at the bottom. Like an angel.

The red glow actually stays on the door, like paint, and you feel your fears crawling down your spine when—

The door opens, you fall out, hugging Flowey to your chest and trying not to hyperventilate. That won’t help. Have to make Flowey warm again. Can’t let him dust. Have to leave, find some place warm. Have to… have to…!

Your heart-thing is gone. Hopefully back inside you. At some point, during your hysterical breaths, you had the foresight to wrap Flowey up in your cloak. Good thinking, you.

If you duck and weave fast enough, you can maybe jump out a window. Or maybe you should wait. Make sure that Tor— _she’s_ sleeping so you have time to draw a symbol on the door but you don’t know how to pull your heart-thing out, it’s gone and what are you doing to do, what are you—

‘Stay determined,’ you chant to yourself. ‘Stay determined, Frisk. Stay _determined_.’

You make a run for it.

You bleed out again.

-

You wake in a fridge, you use your heart to escape, you wrap up Flowey, you wait for her to sleep, you run to the door, you bleed out on the carpet.

You wake in a fridge, you use your heart to escape, you wrap up Flowey, you run, you remember to duck, you try to find a window, you bleed out on the carpet.

You wake in a fridge, use your heart to escape, wrap up Flowey, run, duck, jump out the window, glass shatters and you bleed out on the carpet.

You wake in a fridge, use your heart, wrap Flowey, run, duck, jump out the window, shatters, bleed out on a carpet—

You wake, heart, Flowey, run, duck, jump, shatter, bleed, wake, heart, Flowey, wait, draw, duck, bleed—

You bleed. Every time, you bleed.

-

 _Kill or be killed_ , something starts to whisper to you now. But you recoil.

‘Stay determined,’ you chant to yourself.

-

The thing is… you still love Toriel. She saved you, fed you, kept you warm and read to you. XXXXX would say you’re pathetic again, that you’re a baby. How can you be taken in by such cheap forms of bribery? You’re sad that this is all you can remember of _them_ and maybe they’re right. Maybe you are a baby.

But every time she kills you, you think that her scar glistens like tears, and you want to try again.

-

[ _Please!_ ] you try to sign a few times, but there’s only so much you can sign when someone’s trying to kill you. They see your gestures for attacks. They see your gestures as signs of fear.

“I’ll take good care of you,” Toriel promises when she cuts you down again.

-

You don’t want to look at the floating fire orbs anymore.

-

It’s so cold now. You haven’t moved in a while. You’re not sure how long you decided to huddle there, in the fridge, with eyes closed. Maybe it’s been an hour. A day. It doesn’t matter anymore. You can’t get out. Even your heart looks dim now.

You make sure Flowey stays huddled against your chest. _At least_ XXXXX _is okay,_ you dream. _They must be… they’re… brave…_

The door suddenly swings open but you don’t bother opening your eyes.

“Hello my children,” Toriel says pleasantly. “How are you feeling today?”

You don’t answer.

“Now, don’t be rude, children. Say hello to your new friend! They’ve finally decided to be good and stay with us, isn’t it wonderful?”

Silence.

“I’ve named them Asriel, because they carry around a charming buttercup with them. Just like Asriel did. Say hello Asriel.”

You feel like a ghost breathing on your back.

She brushes something soft against your cheek.

“Now you look as good as new, Asriel. And I will never let you be hurt again. Isn’t this nice? All of you children are here with me. I won’t let you be alone.”

Your heart pounds so loudly, you’re surprised Toriel can’t hear it. Your eyes keep twitching and you can’t help it, you decide to peek and you have bite your tongue so you don’t scream.

All of the fridges are open.

They’re all full.

You didn’t know there were so many children here in the Forest.

Their lips are so blue, the way snow will colour you when claims your Soul. You can see a girl with a fragile tutu like snowflakes, a boy with a baseball glove at his feet, a kid who might have liked to pretend he was a chef eternally with his hands over his head.

And Toriel—Toriel looks so… mangled and happy all at once. She won’t stop cooing to each of the frozen children, petting their hair. “Aren’t you happy, dear? It’s better here, isn’t it? You’ll never have to fight. Never have to die again. Never grow old.”

The scar on her face really is like a tear. Maybe she was always crying, this whole time.

You’re moving before you know it.

 _Idiot,_ Flowey would say. _Stupid_ , you know XXXXX would say.

But you can’t leave her alone. Anything would be better than being alone. Maybe you can’t fix it, but at least—

Toriel gasps, when she sees you stand. For the first time, you see her hands tremble when she calls her flames. But her smile is the same as ever.

“C-Child… w-what are y-you doing out of b-bed?”

/ _I’m so sorry_ ,/ you sign.

Flames lick her claws. They grasp for your hands, eager to devour or push you back in but you feel strangely calm as you dodge. If you can’t sign your way out of this, then you can show her.

“Y-you s-should be t-tucked in…!”

She seems to struggle, caught between moving forward and stumbling back against the line of children. More flames come for you, but they’re easier to duck away. You keep walking forward, arms wide.

“Y-you’ll be c-cold again!”

Her back hits the fridge door and she raises her fist (like always) to stab her claws into your back but you don’t try to dodge this time. You don’t try to duck or run.

Your arms stretch out as far as they can and you hold her.

She freezes, her attack hovering above. “W-what… what are…?” In that hesitant second, you think you see her eyes flicker between red and green. “No. Let go of me. Y-you… you’re supposed to go to _bed_. Stay _still_ , like the rest of the children—not—not…!”

You shut your eyes and cling tighter.

Her claws fall down on you in a bloody hug, like she’ll tear your flesh away if you let go. But you do, because your arms feel heavy and the room is a daze of light and shadow again and you’re bleeding out but not on the carpet because Toriel still hasn’t let go and _oh_ , she… she’s crying, no, she’s not supposed to cry, you wanted to… you wanted to tell her…

Both hands should be used for this sign, but you can’t muster up the strength. Quivering, you hold up a hand and stroke the scar on her cheek, hoping that’s enough for _forgive_. Instead, you almost drop your fingers away in surprise. Toriel’s scar is so sharp… almost like glass.

 _That’s not good,_ you think numbly, _scars shouldn’t be so sharp. I should… I should pull it out._

Your fingers tug at the scar just as you fall back into death.

It glitters like tears.

-

**Before:**

XXXXXX is cutting vegetables by the counter. Usually you avoid the kitchen, you can’t help but shiver at the knives. XXXXX always sneers when you duck away during potato peeling time. But today, XXXXXX has wet trails on her face and you can’t stop staring.

“Go outside, Frisk,” she says, still focused on the knife.

You wait by her side.

“I said _go_.”

But you refused.

Chop, chop, chop, the carrot falls apart. Chop, chop, chop, the onion cries out. Chop, chop, no, the cabbage breathes out.

The knife clutters on the floor.

“…M’so sorry, I can’t… I wish…!”

She sobs around you, pulling you so tight against her chest that you wonder how to breathe. “Are you hurt?” she demands, checking your face, your arms, feet. But no matter how much you shake your head, she does not let go.

“I should have been more careful… I should have seen…”

 _It’s okay,_ you try to say, _it’s—_

_-_

**Now:**

… _okay, Mom._

But she’s not there. Instead, you see walls lined with fridges again and Flowey looking down at you in worry. When you try to reach up to hug him, you find a piece of glass in your bloody hands.

“It’s a mirror,” Flowey says, almost in awe, when he sees you frowning. “ _The_ mirror. Do you have any idea what this means…?”

Obviously not, but you hope Flowey will have the courtesy to tell you after. First, you need to… need to leave. That’s right. And then you have to find _them_ and your memories, and look! You’ve already remembered that you have a Mom, that’s good, and—

Toriel’s hunched over in the corner, shivering and muttering to herself.

“Don’t ask me,” Flowey scowls when you look at him. “I woke up and found her like that. She’ll probably try to kill us again if you don’t leave. _Now_.”

“N-No!” Toriel shouts, making you flinch and Flowey summon white bullets. “I wouldn’t—but I… I _did…!_ Oh, Mount, what have I _done?_ I… I’m a demon!” she looks at you in dismay, a single line where her scar used to be, “Worst than a demon! I… no, no, _don’t look at me!_ ”

Both Flowey and you exchange bewildered glances.

“Frisk…” Flowey says slowly, “…what did you do…?”

You look at the little mirror shard in your hand. It’s a thin piece, the same size as Toriel’s old scar and just as sharp. If you poked it at the ends, you’re sure you’d cut yourself. In that moment, you suddenly want to throw the mirror shard away and never look at it again. But you don’t.

Quietly, you tear a piece of your cloak off and wrap the shard up. Then you slip it into your pocket.

Toriel’s still shivering in the corner, shaking her head and clawing at her sides. You try not to focus on the flaking blood stains on your skin and cloak or the urge to clutch at your chest, to keep your heart-thing locked up inside. You can’t be selfish. She needs you.

“Frisk, no,” Flowey hisses, but you step towards her anyways.

She curls in tighter into the corner, as if the house will swallow her up the way she wants. You try to take her hand but she snaps her hand away like she’s been burned. ( _Idiot,_ XXXXX would say, _you’re the one who burned._ )

“Don’t touch me! I… _I killed you_ …! And I acted like… like I was _tucking you in bed_. Stay away from me, child, before I do it again!”

You shake your head, but she can’t see you. When you try to take her hand, she shrinks back.

[ _It wasn’t you_ ,] she sobs when you sign this. [ _It wasn’t you…_ ]

“But it was!” she insists and you don’t know how to take her pain away. You don’t know how to forgive someone who does not want to forgive themselves.

You can only sit there, and keep trying to hold her hand. You can only sit there (and watch.)

-

Flowey does not comment or try to tug you away after an age seems to pass as you sit there with Toriel. He ducks back under your cloak, and his vines feel gentler around your shoulders. At some point, your eyes droop and you think you see an odd rainbow glow from the corner of your eyes. Green. Blue. Orange. Violet. A dim yellow and indigo.

Frowning, you turn back to look and see that the children are regaining colour. They have heart-things too, slowly glowing a bit brighter.

Toriel gasps quietly and (finally) she takes your hand.

“You should leave, child,” she tugs you up the stairs.

But you want to talk to the other children. Maybe they’re like you and Flowey. Maybe they know how to get out.

“Here,” Toriel rummages in a cabinet and shoves some boots into your hands. They look a little big, all rubber and not-warm. You try to give them back, so you can sign questions, but she finds a knapsack and shoves some pie and blankets in it.

“Oi, what’s happening?” Flowey speaks up. Bless him.

But Toriel just stuffs more and more items into the knapsack until it’s full and then she’s opening the door, she’s pushing you out towards the fence. The fire orbs floating in the air make you flinch and Toriel’s using flames again, why, didn’t you take the mirror out, no—

She lights up the branched wall until that angel symbol appears. The branches part and she moves you outside.

“You must find a place to hide. Away from all monsters.”

“Finally, someone says something sane,” Flowey mutters, which, okay, _bad Flowey_ , but you can’t even reply with your arms full.

You drop the boots so you can tug at Toriel’s sleeve and stop her from going back inside.

[... _What about you?_ ]

Toriel looks like she’s going to laugh or cry or do something in between.

“You are better off with me… I did such terrible things… I couldn’t trust myself…”

-

**Before:**

“I couldn’t handle the responsibility…” Mother whispers when you’re out the door.

-

**Now:**

[… _Come with me_ ,] you plead.

She looks at you. Her eyes are green now, you notice, and for a moment, you feel loved ( _such a good child,_ no, don’t flinch).

“Thank you, child,” she says with a tired smile, “but I need to help those children downstairs. They need me.” She pauses. “Please, don’t come back.”

The branches close in between you both and no matter how much you knock and kick, they do not open again.

 

Interlude: Toriel

How far she’s fallen, trying to seek comfort from a child. She bites down on her tongue to stop herself from asking them to come back. _Don’t leave me_ , _dear, stay here where it’s warm. I’ll protect you. I promise._ Ha, what a fool she is. Aren’t those the thoughts that made her a demon?

The child has that Flower with them. The Flower will keep them safe.

(She’s not sure why that hurts. It shouldn’t hurt. She’s a demon, isn’t she?)

Funny, how a Flower has more strength of will than she did. Maybe it _grew_ a better conscience. Ha ha. Get it? Unlike her. She couldn’t even muster up enough love to keep herself locked in her cottage. She had to be _sick_ and go find _more children_ to stay with her. She didn’t even ask their names.

She can still see the child’s blood on her claws, worn away like rust.

When she left Asgore, all those years ago, she swore she would keep all humans safe. She had been so convinced that she was different. Better, even.

Just look at her now.

Her body trembles when she goes back into the basement and waits by the open fridges, waits for the children’s souls to glow back to life again and for their eyes to go red.

She wishes she had taken your hand, at least once, before you left (she doesn’t deserve it.)

When the first child opens their eyes, she musters up all her courage into a kind smile.

“Good morning, child,” she opens her arms.

With dust, she’ll pay for her sins.


	3. i fell into bones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT Dec 14, 2016: I've added the first fanart pic for this chapter. The second one will come when I have time to draw it :)

** Part 3: i fell into bones  
**

**Before:**

“Don’t even talk to me,” XXXXX says when they storm past you outside.

[ _Wait!_ ] you sign, but you forget that they’re turned around. They can’t see your words. They rarely have patience to wait for you to ‘speak.’

So you run after them and grab their arm. Immediately, they push you away and growl, “Stop following me everywhere! I’m going over to XXXXXX’s house and you can’t stop me!”

Oh. Right. You look down at your shoes. It’s probably not cool to have a mute hanging around. But the rain is roaring all around you two and you pass them your umbrella.

“What? Are you offering it to me? Take it back. I don’t need it.”

You shake your head. [ _I have another_.]

“What? Why didn’t you say so? Jeez, hogging all the umbrella, give me that!” they yank it from your grasp. “Later.”

They disappear around the corner.

When you get back home, Mother asks why you’re drenched.

-

**Now:**

“…Frisk,” Flowey sighs, “how long are you gonna stand there?”

You shrug. You still haven’t put on the boots. Eventually, the wall will open again and Toriel will come out with the other children. You just have to wait.

“Look,” Flowey says after several more minutes have passed, “…I don’t know what happened in there. Hell, I was frozen for most of it, how freaky is that? But I don’t think she’d want you to stand there like a tasty treat for any monster to attack. I think she’d want you to keep going.”

Stubbornly, you shake your head and wipe your face on your sleeve.

“Oh hell, are you _leaking?!_ Frisk, friend, you know I don’t know how to deal with that! Um, stop? Should I plug up your eyes?”

Shaking, you sign, [ _I couldn’t save her_.]

“Wait. _That’s_ why you’re upset?! Come on! You _pulled a freaking mirror out of her face,_ of course you saved her!”

[ _She was crying!_ ]

“Well, that’s ‘cause she’s a stupid goat with stupid emotions. How are we supposed to know how that works?!”

That only makes you sniff harder.

“H-hey, you’re freezing still, and, uh, I don’t know much about humans, but I do know you’ll get sick and gross if we stay out here without shelter. Let’s go visit Toriel another day. Maybe she’ll let you back in. She’s _goat_ to, right? You saved her life! She has to listen to you now, that’s the rules, right?”

You hiccup and stare at Flowey incredulously. When he realizes what he said, he stares back in horror.

[ _Did you just…_ ]

“Don’t you dare mention it…!”

[ _…pun a b-a-a-a-a-a-a-d joke?_ ]

“…What the hell, Frisk. Did you just baa at me?”

Your shoulders shake in silent laughter. But you nod anyways.

“Damn it, you’re lucky I put up with you.”

[ _Whatever floats your goat_ ,] you reply.

“That’s it. I’m leaving. If you don’t come with me right now, I’ll get eaten by bad jokes.”

He stretches his vines down and offers you your boots. You look down at your scabbed feet and then at the branched walls. Slowly, you unwind some thread from your cloak and tie it to one of the branches of the wall. _I’ll come back_ , you promise yourself. Then you put your boots on (snug as a bug) and walk into the forest, red thread from your cloak trailing behind you.

Flowey turns his face away when you pat him on the head, but you think you see him smiling.

-

You also forget to ask him how he knows where the mirror shard came from.

-

Unfortunately, you get ambushed after countless minutes walking in aimless circles.

You’re not sure what you were expecting after Toriel. You still don’t know what to think ( _such a good child_ ) but you were careful about leaving the red thread on the ground so you won’t trip any monsters, careful not to tangle it in the bushes. Oddly enough, your cloak hasn’t shrunk at all. There seems to be bundles of red thread trailing behind you.

And tall growling dog warriors in front of you.

“Run,” Flowey tugs at you, like always.

But you—( _Don’t touch me! I_ … _I killed you_ …!)—you can’t. Move.

The dogs jump at you with their teeth and your heart-thing jumps out, glowing as always with silver down its middle, and you dodge. You keep dodging. Flowey screams bloody murder but you keep looking, searching, for any silver scars on the dogs and sure enough—there!

Behind its ear, you spot that same trace of silver, a jagged scar more crooked than Toriel’s buried under white fur. The wrapped up shard in your pocket suddenly feels hot against your hip.

You jump at the dog’s head before you know what you’re doing.

Flowey shrieks, “What the _hell_!” and twists his vines towards the tree, pulling you back, but you struggle free until you’re hanging off of the dog’s neck and trying so hard to reach its ear. Except you brush against its fur instead and, unconsciously, the dog lets out a loud whine in the middle of its growls.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Flowey curses. “A pet?!”

Yet even growly killer dogs must feel the need for affection because the dog seems to switch between trying to chop you up with an ax and trying to roll around or wag its tail. You cling as hard as you can and think of Toriel curled up in the corner and you doubt, you doubt so much, but—

Your hands touch the sharp edge of the scar and you _pull_ as hard as you can.

Another mirror shard rips out, cutting into your fingers and Flowey catches you in his vines before you hit the ground.

“Oh man, oh man,” Flowey attempts to plug the bleeding around your hands with more flowers. You haven’t let go of the shard yet. You’re too busy staring at the whimpering dog on the ground.

It had yelped in pain when you pulled out the shard. You saw the red fade from its eyes. Your heart-thing is quivering so hard that you can’t seem to move. And when the dog looks up at you, its ears flop down in a sad pout.

You reach towards it, maybe to give it another pet, or a cuddle, you don’t know. It doesn’t give you the chance to try. It runs off, whining like its been struck ill, tears in its yellow eyes.

When you finally calm down and look down at yourself, you notice that you’re tangled up in threads.

Flowey crosses his leaves together. “We need to talk, Frisk.”

You’re tempted to make a joke about breaking up but your heart’s not in it. Speaking of hearts, your heart-thing has sunk back into your chest. Neat.

“Let go of that,” Flowey slaps the shard out of your hand. It falls on your lap and Flowey knocks it away into the dirt where it belongs. Yet when you reach out to touch it again, Flowey’s face turns monstrous and he snarls, “ _No!_ That’s what’s making everyone crazy! Don’t touch it.”

But you’ve touched a shard before and you haven’t tried killing anyone (yet).

“And stop tearing them out of monsters that are trying to _kill_ you! Don’t you have any self-preservation?!”

You look back at the dirty shard again and slowly pull the other one out of your pocket. Before Flowey can snatch it away, you bring the pieces together. Oddly enough, they seem to fit, and form a strange crooked ‘L’ shape.

[ _What is it?_ ] you ask when Flowey says nothing.

Flowey’s face goes monstrous again. “A terrible thing. It grants wishes.”

You almost drop the shards on your lap. [ _Someone wished for this?!_ ]

Who would do that? Just… wish for people to kill each other? Why is it broken into different pieces and stick in people’s skin?

Your fist curls up and you have the urge to kick something. What an ugly feeling.

“That’s why you should throw it away,” Flowey spits. “Smash it. It won’t do you any good.”

 “h u m a n,” the voice makes your skin crawl. “d o n ‘ t  y o u  k n o w  y o u  s h o u l d n ‘ t  l i t t e r?  w h a t  k i n d  o f  t r a s h  d o  y o u  t h i n k  y o u  a r e?”

You and Flowey freeze. Your fingers curl around the mirror shards again, the points pricking your palm.

“W-whoever you a-are, we… we got a w-weapon! You attack us, we’ll _destroy_ you,” Flowey snarls. Even when you shake your head ‘no’ at him.

The voice just laughs slowly, like bones being plonked into soup.

“t u r n  a r o u n d.”

Unable to stop your shivers, you do. You’re tempted to run away screaming.

In front of you is a short skeletal figure enshrouded in shadows. It steps towards you, both eye sockets blacker than the vast emptiness of space between stars. Each step it takes, you hear the clatter of chains, ringing like empty soup cans or dead church bells. When you look at its limbs, you _see_ those chains, hanging around each joint in circles and dangling cuffs at each end.

“Stay away from us!” Flowey snarls.

“s h a k e  m y  h a n d,” it says instead.

Despite Flowey’s hisses, you do.

The clearing is suddenly filled with fart noises. You gape down at your hands. There’s a whoopee cushion. There. Between your hand and its.

“a great _pun_ ishment for litterers. really _breaks_ the air for strangers.”

You grin and Flowey pales. [ _Yes, you really brought out the wind beneath my wings._ ]

The skeleton looks surprised at first, but then its smile grows wider.

“there’s more where that came from. you could say that practical jokes are a _breeze_.”

Your shoulders start to shake in quiet laughter. The skeleton doesn’t seem to mind you being mute, if anything, the tiny lights in his eye sockets intensify in their glow. He doesn’t look away. You start to feel like you’re being placed on a surgeon’s table, waiting for laser surgery to begin. _Remember Toriel,_ you can imagine XXXXX telling you now, _even the monsters that talk first are enemies._

Panicking a little, you start to fiddle with your fingers, thinking of what to sign in return. You hope that this skeleton isn’t planning on shoving you into any fridges anytime soon and no, your eyes start to tear up, probably best not to think of that again. The skeleton sounded so menacing earlier too. Did you break a skeleton custom? Do skeletons take care of the forest? Is that why it doesn’t want you to drop the mirror shard here—

Ow! You wince and notice Flowey tighten his vines around you.

“What the hell are you doing here, _Sans?_ ” Flowey snarls in a way that makes you nervous.

[ _You know him?_ ]

Flowey barely looks at your hands. “Yeah,” he grudgingly says. But no more.

“wow, buddy, didn’t know i was so famous. can’t say i know _you_ though…” Sans continues to grin and you start to wonder if his smile is pasted on, “…or your pal. so how’d you two wander into the forest?”

“None of your business!” Flowey snaps, and to you, he hisses, “Don’t sign _anything_ to him. Got it?”

You nod more on impulse than anything else and Flowey is pushing you out of the clearing when Sans appears in front of you both, leaning casually against a tree trunk. You didn’t even hear the chains move.

“What the hell?!” Flowey raises his white bullets in the air.

“now, now,” Sans puts his hands up, “what’s the hurry? you wouldn’t want something to…” his foot steps on a branch, “ _snap_ , would you?”

The sound of the branch cracking in two makes you jump away. Okay. Maybe not a nice monster. ( _Toriel offers you pie, “it’s for your own good,” she smiles when she shuts the door to the fridge and why can’t you breathe—)_

“aw, hey, kid, don’t be like that,” Sans is suddenly eye level with you. Flowey is cursing at lightspeed, all these words you never knew. At some point, you fell on your knees, tangled in red thread, and Sans squatted down to look at you.

“i’m just a skeleton, any punch i’d throw at ya would have no meat behind it. besides,” he gestures to the chains, “i’m a little too tied up to be a threat.”

You don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but Sans sees you smiling.

“there. that’s better,” he ignores Flowey’s threat of decapitation (‘I’ve lost my head before,’ he says), “now, tell me, kid,” his eye sockets go pitch black, “w h e r e  d i d  y o u  g e t  t h a t  m i r r o r?”

Abruptly, you fall back on your side, backing away as much as possible from sans. What is, what the, _what?_

“oh right, _eye_ always forget myself when _eye_ do that,” Sans steps closer, eyes still black, chains as silent as reapers walking towards death. “but you have to understand, kid. _eye_ can’t have _s t r a n g e r s_ running around with magic they don’t understand. so be a pal, and hand it over, will you?”

 _No!_ you shake your head furiously.

“w h y? you were so  e a g e r  to get rid of it earlier.”

“Fuck y—” Flowey gets slammed suddenly into the ground. You let out a silent cry.

“q u i e t,” Sans says when Flowey tries to get up under the cloak of blue light. “don’t need an answer from _you_. need the kid to say it. so, kid,” his grin grows wider, “why do ya want to keep that  t h i n g?”

 _Smash it_ , Flowey mouths at you. But that cry of _no_ rings in your head again, desperate and familiar. You think of Toriel shaking when she killed you, of the dog-warrior’s tail wagging despite the mirror’s presence and the way the mirror seems nailed into monsters like a stab wound.

Your fists start to shake. When did they curl up in the first place? And you notice the mirror shard feels caked to your hands because of the dry blood.

[ _It’s repulsive,_ ] you start to sign, putting the mirror shard on your lap.

“oh? how so?”

His casual remark makes you sign more quickly. [ _It’s hurting people! Making them do things they would never—_ ] Toriel wouldn’t, right? She told you to go because she _never_ would, right? [— _want! If it grants wishes, then I’m going to find all these pieces, I’m going to free all the monsters and I’m gonna… I’m gonna make a new wish! To let them all out of this forest!_ ]

Flowey stares at you like he’s never seen the sun before, in this awe and terror that makes you shrink in on yourself. But Sans, his eyes are still so black. A void where bad dreams are crafted. He steps towards you, his chains following behind him more like wispy smoke than the noisy things they were before. His hand stretches out towards you and you close your eyes—

Pet. Pet.

Um. You blink up and lights have returned to each of Sans’ eye sockets. He’s patting your head like you’re an endearing new species of animal.

“good answer, kid. didn’t even need me to convince you. which is great, ‘cause i love doing nothing.”

Processing. Processing. Nope, nothing is connecting. You look helplessly at Flowey but he’s still stuck in vacant-stare-mode as well.

“you must be wondering why i’m not cursed,” Sans goes on, which, okay, you weren’t. But now you’re curious and look at him eagerly. This _has_ to be true. The cursed people you’ve met so far weren’t aware of the curse, right? So Sans is a potential friend. You don’t think you had many friends when you had memories. “it’s a pretty epic secret.”

He gestures for you to lean closer and you do.

Then he whispers, “i’m too much of a lazybones to be cursed.”

You frown at him in disbelief when he bursts out laughing.

“aw, come on, you gotta admit that was pretty humerus? right?”

 _No,_ you’re about to sign because you’re annoyed at the misleading conversation. But then you notice how his eye sockets seem to twitch (how?) and you’re not good at reading skull faces but you can’t help but think this one is strained somehow. Must have been a long time since Sans told a joke to someone who listened.

You pretend to laugh and the smile becomes wide again.

“Hello?! Is anyone going to explain what the hell is going on now?!” Flowey snaps out of his daze.

“ignore him, he’s being a weeping willow,” Sans puts an arm around your shoulder before you can go to Flowey, “let’s talk some serious talk.”

You swallow apprehensively. Not sure what to expect.

“now i dunno if you’ve noticed but… this forest’s not exactly teeming with people looking for a good time. and me, i’m fine with that. a good door’s all you need to do a decent knock-knock joke. but my brother, papyrus? ah, he gets… _bonely_. so i was wondering… you seem like a nice kid. could you go befriend him?”

That… is not what you expected at all.

“Seriously?” Flowey scoffs. Flowers must have excellent hearing. “I don’t know what you’re playing at but this isn’t the place where people make _friends_.”

“you two seem pretty tight,” Sans shrugs, “i wonder if this daisy actually tells you the truth all the time?”

“ _I’m a buttercup, you buffoon!_ And Frisk, don’t trust this _bullshit—_ ”

[ _Is he like you?_ ] you sign instead because you’re tired and you don’t know what to think right now. You just want to sleep ( _the fridge shuts—_ ) You just want to find _them_.

Sans pauses. “what? my brother?” He goes quiet and you almost gasp because Sans actually looks softer, gentler. “nah, he’s cooler.”

Then ( _because you never know what’s good for you,_ XXXXX sneers in your head) you nod. [ _Okay, I’ll do it_.]

Flowey looks ready to vomit.

-

“Frisk, we can’t trust him, alright? I _know_ this guy. He’s weird and he drinks _ketchup_ (can’t you believe that?) and he always has something up his sleeve,” Flowey whispers to you as you follow Sans through the forest, a trail of red thread falling behind you.

[ _But he doesn’t seem cursed_ ,] you sign, [ _besides, you don’t tell me everything either_.]

Flowey shuts his mouth.

“Look,” he says, oddly hesitant, “there wasn’t enough time to tell you everything I know. We’re always running. It’s not like you believed me when I warned you about Toriel,” he adds bitterly.

You remember Flowey’s face touched with frost and his leaves, like paper-glass at the touch, and how you tried to warm him up first before running and then you stopped bothering because if you died every time, what was the point, better to let him sleep frozen unaware than—

“H-hey, how c-come every time I talk, you start leaking?! That’s cheating! Aw hell,” Flowey rubs his forehead when you keep sniffing, “hey, alright, I know you’re sorry.”

You nod several times.

“So you’ll throw away the mirror?”

Remembering Toriel and the dog, you shake your head.

“Urgh, fine. Whatever. How about this? The minute this mirror business seems shifty to you, you throw it away, alright? And the _moment_ that skeleton tries anything weird, you let me attack him and we run. _Actually run,_ this time. Got it?”

Wiping away your tears, you smile in agreement.

“Good,” Flowey turns his head back towards the front. You run to catch up to Sans slow pace. When you face Sans, to ask how much longer you’ll have to walk, Flowey reaches up to pat your head. You don’t see the smug look he gives Sans.

You don’t ask Flowey to tell you everything yet. You’re sure he will, when you both have time.

Sans only edges closer to you, one eye lit up in blue.

-

The walk isn’t long. After your chat with Flowey, you feel like you only took twenty more steps before nearly running into a wall made of bones, all crisscrossed or standing tall like a carnivore’s playpen. The bones are huge too, maybe from dinosaurs, because they stretch up as tall as the trees and disappear past the leaf ceiling. Some of the bones have various skulls hanging from their middle. You see dog skulls. Reindeer (?) skulls. A spider carcass. And sad little strings of Christmas lights streaming from bone to bone, unlit and empty.

There’s even writing painted on the rows of bones. The words ‘S T A Y  A W A Y  I F  Y O U  D O N T  W A N N A  H A V E  A  B A D  T I M E’ drip down the stained yellow surfaces, as if the paint was trying to crawl to the ground in escape before it dried.

You step nervously behind Sans when you read this.

“ah this? don’t worry about it. just warding off _unwanted_ friends, that’s all,” Sans shrugs.

Somehow you doubt this.

“Are you kidding me? This just screams death. Those are _bones!_ ” Flowey waves his leaves up and down.

“excuse you, but my brother has a skele- _ton_ of bones. got a problem with that?”

You put a hand over Flowey’s mouth and shake her head quickly. Best not to offend strange skeleton customs. Even if they do build walls out of bones. Which would be like… building a wall out of humans if you were human…? Okay, maybe this _is_ a little weird.

Sans takes out a small bone out of nowhere and starts tapping it against the walls in a short rhythm. Maybe it’s a song, but it’s difficult to say without a variety of notes and only taps and pauses.

[ _… So your brother –is- like you, right?_ ] you scuttle forward when the bones start to clatter apart, opening up like a curtain being raised by invisible birds.

“what, you mean, is he a skeleton? or do you mean, is he’s cursed? ‘cause he is. cursed, that is.”

Your chest drops and you wish you could faint, right there.

“I knew it!” Flowey roars, “You backstabbing bas—”

“a r e  y o u  g o n n a  g o  b a c k  o n  y o u r  w o r d,  k i d?” Sans stares at you, and again, you feel caught up in the void of nothingness and shadows at every corner, reaching for you, and you shake your head ‘no’ and Sans grins, normal once more. “then you have nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about?!” Flowey’s pellets race towards him.

With a blue glow, Sans sends the attacks up into the air. “welp, i better get going. i’d help out, but i’m a bit restrained, you see,” he shakes his chains, “and, papyrus can get a bit cranky when he sees me.”

Sans snaps his fingers and the bones slowly fall back down into ‘wall’ position.

[ _Wait, don’t go!_ ] you rush towards him.

“oh, and one more thing,” shadows from the reassembling bone wall fall on his face, “if you make Papyrus kill you, i  w i l l  n o t  h e s i t a t e  t o  r i p  y o u r  b o n e s  o u t  f o r  t h i s  w a l l.”

The bones click shut, snapping the red thread from your cloak in two, and you’re left staring helplessly at the wall until you dare to turn around.

 _Oh Frisk,_ XXXXX says in your head, _when will you learn to stop trusting people other than me?_

-

For a long time, nothing moves. You and Flowey hide behind a shed and decide to take turns sleeping. One person on watch at all times. Thankfully, nothing moves within the bone-encircled walls. This Papyrus person must be sleeping or very unaware of his own dwelling. In any case, you’re glad for the opportunity to rest and eat.

Toriel’s pie tastes like sand to you but at the same time, it’s delicious. You make sure to eat it when Flowey is asleep so he won’t have to deal with your eyes leaking again or your shivering. It’s always so cold here. You wish you could see the sun. You can’t remember what it looks like, but you think it was wonderful. Warm.

You also try not to think about Sans. He seemed so… normal. And he knew about the curse. So why did he lock you in here? You can’t even tap the same rhythm back on the bones, you aren’t very good with rhythms. Flowey’s vines only reach so high. These bone walls are so immense; maybe they touch the sky. It’s hard to remember that there’s a forest out there.

Even so, you’re stuck here until you and Flowey starve or Papyrus comes to kill you and to kill you and to—

Be calm. Be calm. Maybe there’s another way out. You get up to take another peek around but wince when the mirror shard in your pocket pokes at your thigh.

Wait. The mirror shard.

( _a r e  y o u  g o n n a  g o  b a c k  o n  y o u r  w o r d,  k i d?_ )

The vow you made earlier comes back to you and suddenly you feel ashamed. What are you doing here, thinking about running away? (“Oh, it’s _them_. The scaredy cat,” your classmates used to whisper, “don’t pick them for your team, they’ll just make you lose.”) Didn’t you swear to help the monsters, take all the mirror shards back?

You get up.

You place Flowey gently onto a bed of soil (he turns around, muttering about killing Sans) and you walk out of your hiding place.

( _“But what about me, Frisk?”_ XXXXX whispers, “ _Didn’t you promise to COmE FiNd mE?_ ”)

Putting your hood up, you try not to shiver.

-

The bone enclosure feels like a long abandoned remnant of old time. Everywhere you look there are different stacks of objects, towering towards the black sky. You feel like you’re in a forest of knick-knack that seem to spiral upwards in spiral staircase-structures. A spiral of bone stairs. A spiral of badminton racket stairs. A spiral of metal squares that light up in ‘X’s or ‘O’s. A spiral of axes going up and tied together with different shirts with random sayings like “Kiss the Skull” or “Number One Cutie.” You even see an unstable spiral of pasta boxes that never reaches higher than twelve feet. There are a lot of spiral pasta box staircases.

But most of the staircases are made of bones.

Vaguely, you recall cities with skyscrapers, trying to populate the air because humans and monsters take up so much of the earth. Maybe these bone staircases could be the skeletons of those buildings left behind. You can’t help but feel very small as you stare up the steps.

You hear a tiny echo up above, like someone tapping their teeth perhaps. Or bone fingers waiting for a guest to climb up.

Trembling, you go to the closest bone staircase and you start to climb up. Each step creaks as if the bones want to tell you their story but your foot smothers their tales. You send your best apologies. You’re surprised that the staircase doesn’t give any sign of leaning over or collapsing under your weight after that.

As you step up higher and higher, the taps get louder and you wrap your cloak tighter around you. The taps are accompanied by heavy breaths now. Looking for ears to listen.

You nearly trip when you reach the twenty-fifth step, but you manage to hang on to a rather large leg bone and you have to calm your breaths ( _don’t look down, you baby,_ XXXXX sneers) before you dare your legs to stand again.

When you do, you notice a figure hunched over, sitting on another set of bone stairs across from you, only slightly higher up. His silhouette is so long that you think of darkness personified, contemplating the world below. Except this figure has their head in their hands, like they’re searching for tears.

It hurts to look at him.

“P-Papyrus?” you say when you can’t bare staring any longer.

His head snaps towards you, with black eye sockets blazing in orange fire and pinpoints of red light and you gasp, stepping back, but there’s no bone for you to step on and your hands fly back as you—

He jumps across the air and lands on your set of bone stairs, his skeletal hand grabbing you around the wrist like a steel clasp. You dangle in the air, blood roaring in your ears for you to get to ground, get to ground, and _don’t look down, Frisk, don’t look down!_

Quite suddenly you’re pulled upwards so you’re face to face with blazing orange eye sockets. “YOU…” the tall skeleton roars, making you squeak if you could, “…ARE YOU A HUMAN?”

Stunned, you merely gape at him.

He swings you to the side and you cringe. “IT IS RUDE NOT TO ANSWER!”

Not wanting to die, you nod. Quickly. Several times. Then wonder if you should have lied.

“I HAVE NEVER SEEN A TINY HUMAN BEFORE,” his voice makes you cringe, “CLEARLY, MY REPUTATION AS A GREAT PUZZLE MAKER HAS BROUGHT YOU FROM FAR AWAY.”

There’s a pause and you realize, a bit too late, that he wants you to reply, when his phalanges dig into your skin.

You nod _yes_ , being unable to sign with just one hand. Can’t feel the other hand anymore.

His eyes narrow into half-moons and then, before you can start pleading for your life, he swings you around in circles, red lights blinking in and out of his eye sockets. “EXCELLENT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SHOW YOU THE GREATEST PUZZLES KNOWN TO MONSTER AND HUMANKIND! NYA NYA NYA!”

Before you know it, he puts you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and he’s leaping from staircase to staircase, climbing up and up until you reach… a platform?

Somehow, the platform doesn’t rattle at all when Papyrus sets you down. Such great architectural feats. You silently thank whoever built this.

The air is so thin here, you have to take slow breaths. Papyrus, though, pulls you roughly towards rows and rows of spikes and immediately you recoil.

“ISN’T IT MAGNIFICENT?” Papyrus gestures towards the lines of spikes, swinging axes and hoops of fire. In the distance, you think you see several decapitated stuffed animals and a bunny plushie skewered through the chest with a spike. The plushie violence makes you shrink back down in fear.

Dust lines all of the spikes.

“MY GREATEST MASTERPIECE FOR ANY PUZZLE LOVER, NOT NEARLY AS GREAT AS ME, OF COURSE,” Papyrus dances around, the red lights in his eyes blinking in and out. “NOW, HUMAN, YOU WILL TRY TO GET THROUGH IT.”

Your face must spell out your words for you.

“IT IS EASY, HUMAN. WATCH.”

To your horror and awe, Papyrus dashes towards the death traps and somehow leaps over the spikes, narrowly misses the axes and lands through the hoop of deadly fire all in one jump.

Amazing. But more like an impossible feat of athleticism than a puzzle. Still, you burst into applause.

The red in his eyes seem to go white for a moment, before Papyrus starts to boast, “I AM THE BEST, AFTER ALL. COME, DON’T YOU WANT TO PRAISE ME MORE?”

[ _That was incredible,_ ] you sign dutifully. Papyrus looks confused at first before he notices your hands and he starts to laugh boastfully again, hiding his smile under his red scarf. [ _I never knew anyone could jump that high! Do you enter competitions? Can everyone jump like you can?_ ]

“NONSENSE. THERE IS NONE BETTER THAN THE GREAT PAPYRUS. EVERYONE KNOWS THIS…everyone…” his eyes turn white again.

[ _Are…Are you alright?_ ] you can’t help but ask. Is this the curse again? You can’t help but feel a pain at your chest when you look at him. Something about him feels… breakable. You don’t like it.

You still can’t see any scars on his face or arms.

“BUT NOW IT IS YOUR TURN!” Papyrus switches back, the red brighter than ever. “ _COMPLETE THE PUZZLE!_ ”

All the blood flows out of your face. Do the puzzle? You stare at the spikes, at the skewered plushies of froggits and dogs. Remember the claws and blood and waking up in a fridge and claws and blood and waking in a—in a—

 _No!_ No, no, no, no, no! You turn back, you can’t do this. There’s no way!

Papyrus is in front of you in an instant, his feet landing on the ground like a clap of thunder. “ **HUMAN**. WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”

You’re shaking. You know it. But no matter how much you tell your body, it won’t stop.

“WELL THEN,” his skeleton picks you up by the hood. Your feet dangle as you try to escape, “I WILL TEACH YOU TO PLAY.”

He throws you towards the spikes before you can (not) scream.

-

**Before:**

“…temperature too high…” you hear Mother murmur. She sounds so far away. Why does she sound so far away? You reach for her, but your hands can find nothing but air. “…should stay in bed… rest… no playing...”

Everything looks blurry. It spins. Mommy’s form spins too, getting farther and farther away. _Don’t leave!_ You stretch out. The door shuts.

-

**Now:**

Are you alive? Breathe in. Breathe out. You can feel your fingers, your toes. Good, you still have limbs. There are no holes in your stomach.

It’s still so cold but you think you can hear your heart jumping in your lungs, screaming at you to run.

Better listen then.

When you dare to open your eyes, you see a knife pointed at your eyes.

 _HOly SKIES,_ you flail backwards, nearly slip off the staircases made of… toy cars? Weren’t you just on a bone platform? You can see it in the distance, and an orange blur, jumping from staircase to staircase. Papyrus. He must have thrown you too far and now he’s coming for you—

Whoa, you duck again, keeping hold of the long column of toy cars holding the staircase together. No time to worry about Papyrus now.

The knife comes at you again and you see the monster holding it in their teeth. A particularly vicious sort of scarlet burns in their eyes as they try to stab you again and again, making you stumble backwards down the stairs.

They don’t seem to have arms, you note warily, because part of you is still in shock, that’s right, and you can’t think straight. They don’t have arms and they’re so small, like you, and there’s so much dust on their scales that you want to weep.

[ _Stop it!_ ] you sign.

They hiss at you, muffled words coming out between their teeth and knife. “Dis if all your mfault! Now he’ss gonna mfind me!”

Are they trapped here too? Were they trying to hide from Papyrus?

[ _I’m sorry, I’m sorry!_ ] you try to sign, but knife attacks don’t make for good sign-interpreters. [ _Please! Let’s hide together!_ ]

They start to laugh. “You won’t mtrick me! M’Undyne says you mhumans lie!”

‘Undyne?’ you mouth. The name seems familiar, probably one of the names painted on the trees. Is this Undyne the person who made the wish?

But before you can think, the monster child swipes their tail at you and you’re in a tangle of limbs, your head, your arms, legs, hitting step after step—

Someone catches you. Their ribs poke at your cheek.

Oh no, you think. Papyrus.

“ **LITTLE MONSTER,** ” he bellows, his ribs digging deeper against you. “DID YOU HURT THE TINY HUMAN?”

The monster child nearly drops the knife but they growl at Papyrus, sticking their knife up defiantly. “So mwhat if I mdid?!”

Papyrus storms over. You try to sign a warning but his grip is so tight that you can’t move, and the monster child swipes at him until Papyrus grabs them by the tail, watching them dangle about like a captured piranha.

“THIS IS **NOT** HOW YOU PLAY.”

Burning orange bones appear from out of nowhere and rush towards the monster child.

You cry out in muted silence, just as the monster child glows blue and the orange bones hit a strangely sewn dinosaur plushie instead.

_What the—?_

Papyrus spins you around again. “HUMAN, ARE YOU DAMAGED? BURNED? CUT?”

You don’t have time to answer. His hands start glowing orange around you and any bruises from your fall seem to fade away, leaving tingling sensations behind.

“THERE, I HAVE HEALED YOU. PRAISE ME AGAIN.”

You don’t know what to say. You can’t stop gaping at him.

“WELL??” his eye sockets flicker between red and white again and you hurriedly sign, [ _I’m sorry, I am just so speechless at your amazing magic!_ ]

Did you just unintentionally make a pun about yourself in all your hysteria and disbelief? Yes. But no time for that as Papyrus squeezes you against him and then leaps with you into the air, back to the bone platform.

“EXCELLENT! THEN WE SHALL CONTINUE OUR GAME!”

Frantically, you shake your head, but Papyrus doesn’t see this until he sets you down and, even then, he insists that you must be shaking with excitement to start. You try to sign a retort, but he’s running towards the spikes with you in his arms and you panic. You wave your arms in wide circles, swing your legs with all your might (curse your tiny size) but he doesn’t see, doesn’t listen—

You start clapping as loud as you can, the sound so loud that Papyrus stops.

[ _Wait!_ ] You sign, [ _We can’t play right now!_ ]

His grip becomes death tight.

“WHY EVER NOT?! DO YOU NOT WANT TO BE **FRIENDS**?”

You feel your chest hurting for him again.

[ _No! I would love to be friends! But… I am… tired! We can’t play if one of us is tired._ ]

Papyrus studies you for a terrifyingly long moment before he nods. “TINY HUMAN, YOU ARE CORRECT! I WOULD NOT WANT MY FRIEND TO BE TIRED. OTHERWISE YOU WILL LEAVE. AND IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE MY FRIEND, YOU **CANNOT** LEAVE.”

 _Toriel?_ you almost sign. But you don’t. It’s just the curse. This isn’t Papyrus. This isn’t Toriel. They’re just… They’re just…

Your shakes look like a nod of agreement, and, refusing to let go, Papyrus jumps down to the little house below the staircases.

-

His house is lined with empty Christmas lights. Oddly, the unlit blubs seem like glass skeletons to you, except they’re missing something inside instead of out. The whole structure looks worn away and dusty but in an abandoned sense instead of a murdering one. No one has lived here in a long time. You wonder if Papyrus still goes in.

From the clouds of dust that crops up when he opens the door, you guess ‘no.’ You also can’t stop coughing. Good. Regular dust then, not monster dust. Monster dust doesn’t make you sneeze.

Quickly, Papyrus runs to a room labeled ‘Papyrus.’ The other doors, you notice, are boarded up or have burn marks against them. You try not to think of what Papyrus might be keeping there.

But his room is a welcome delight. Papyrus practically sparkles when you point excitedly to the race car bed and action figures. He tells you that you have good taste and goes immediately to the closest. More dust flies around and the blankets that Papyrus pulls out smell like they should be a hospital but you welcome more rest. Best of all, there are no eerie plushies in sight.

When Papyrus sets you down, he adjusts his red scarf, making sure it’s creased the way he like it and then he places you on the bed.

He buries you in mountains of blankets and settles down beside you. Strange but, the situation feels… safe, somehow, though you know deep down that it’s not. Flowey must be so worried by now. Has he woken yet? Is he tearing the soil apart for you? Or maybe he feels better off without you around, rushing them both into stupid situations.

XXXXX wonders when you’ll learn your lesson about trusting cursed monsters.

 _But it’s not their fault,_ you chant to yourself quietly.

“THERE. NOW YOU WILL SLEEP. IN THE MORNING, WE PLAY THE GAME AND THEN YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND.”

Your chest twists.

[ _Papyrus,_ ] you poke him gently in the shoulder bone, [ _why do you think we have to do puzzles to be friends?_ ]

In the darkness of his room, his red eyes make you think of fire and bleeding out on a carpet. You have to look away.

“…BECAUSE… because no one ever finishes them,” he says, unexpectedly quiet.

You must look confused because Papyrus continues, “I MAKE SO MANY PUZZLES. I USED TO HAVE MANY VISITORS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY COME TO TRY THEM. BUT NOW NO ONE FINISHES THEM. AND WHENEVER THEY ARE CLOSE TO FINISHING, THEY VANISH AND LEAVE BEHIND THESE UGLY PLUSHIES. SO I MUST FIND SOMEONE WILL FINISH THE PUZZLE. I KNOW THAT PERSON WILL STAY.”

Your throat abruptly goes tight and you don’t know what to sign. This feeling… like floating between what it is to be sad and angry, you think it’s like that. This isn’t fair, you think, why do cursed monsters have to sound so vulnerable? Why do they have to sound like they have control?

You hide your face against the blanket, to hide the wetness, and before Papyrus can comment, you take his hand in yours.

[ _I will stay_ ,] you trace in the air.

His phalanges wind so tight around your fingers that you can’t feel them anymore.

 _So please,_ you think to yourself when he drifts off to sleep, _don’t make me do any puzzles._

-

**Before:**

“What the hell were you _thinking?!_ ” XXXXX storms into your room and rips off your blankets. You shiver, feeling naked, and attempt to grope around for them but XXXXX slaps your hand away. “Why did you give me your umbrella, you idiot?! Now dearest _Mommy_ keeps giving me those _looks_. You know what I’m talking about!”

[ _I…_ ] you have to start again because your hands won’t stay still, [ _I’m sorry…_ ]

“You’re always saying that! I want a reason!”

[ _I didn’t want you to get wet._ ]

XXXXX stares at you. “ _So?_ Who cares?!”

You frown. [ _I do._ ]

XXXXX stares again. They open their mouth, probably to insult you again, and then close it. Open. Then close. Then—

“ _Argh!_ ” they turn back and shut the door.

Quietly, you gather up your blankets again. They probably won’t be back.

-

**Now:**

“psst. hey. hey, kid. i know you’re still awake. you’re too tense. guess you’re not a sleepyhead like my brother.”

Groggily, you peek up from beneath the blanket pile and see a skeleton standing by the window. Immediately, you shoot up, but you have to detangle your fingers from Papyrus’ grip first. You feel nervous when Papyrus turns over. Fortunately, he seems to be a deep sleeper as he snores softly away.

[ _Sans?!_ ] you sign when both your hands are free.

“the one and only.”

He gives a lazy wave, his chains swaying without a sound.

You scurry over to him and start signing furiously, [ _Where have you been?! Why didn’t you warn me about—_ ]

“never mind that, kid. did you find his mirror piece yet?”

Mirror…?

[ _I didn’t have time._ ] Too busy thinking about dying. And fridges.

“well what are you waiting for? he’s right there. bare-boned and exposed. search him.”

Your jaw drops.

Immediately, you shake your head _no_.

“what? feel intimidated by what a handsome guy my bro is? no need to worry, he has no face.”

[ _It’s rude!_ ]

Sans eyes start to go black again but you feel too frustrated to be scared. You’ve been running and killed so many times for the past few days. You’ve seen people die.

[ _If you want the mirror piece so badly, why don’t you get it yourself?!_ ]

White lights settle back in his eye sockets again. “can’t do that, kid. too lazy.”

You think of Papyrus sitting alone on a staircase and a dusty home. [ _That’s no excuse! Don’t you care at all?!_ ]

The chains start to clunk on the ground again, shuffling behind Sans like hungry snakes waking from slumber.

“do _you?_ i wasn’t gonna mention it but i got a bone to pick with you, kid. thought i told ya not to make pap kill you or anyone else—”

[ _You never mentioned_ —]

“and low and behold,” his chains sound like rain storming on a little wood hut, “there’s little old monster kid riling my brother up. you could have stopped that, kid, if you’d found the mirror piece like you were  s u p p o s e d  to.”

He leans so close that you fall backwards and knock over the actions figures on the table. The noise makes you and Sans look over to Papyrus, only to find him already awake and standing.

Both brothers still. Neither daring to move before the other. The chains behind Sans fall silent.

“…Brother?” Papyrus says slowly. And for a moment, you forget that he’s cursed.

Maybe Sans does too, because something in his face looks broken, the way Papyrus looked broken when he was sitting on the bone staircase. But then the lights in Papyrus’ eye sockets go red and Papyrus is charging at Sans, blazing orange, screaming, “YOU DIRTY TRAITOR!”

 _Stop it!_ you wish you could scream. But you can’t so you do the next best thing. You push Sans out of the way, arms spread out, and you barely catch Sans’ shock before he blinks away in a flash of familiar blue light and you think, _oh._

Orange skewers through you.

-

Why does it hurt to breathe? There’s a bone rammed straight through your shoulder. Lovely. Maybe dying would have been better ( _you wake in a fridge and—_ ), then you wouldn’t feel this pain.

“HUMAN!” you didn’t know a skeleton could sound so shattered. “HUMAN, NO, WHAT IS THIS RED WATER? ARE YOU HURT? WHAT HAPPENED?”

Oh Papyrus…

You try to lift your hands up to sign, but the one attached to your skewered shoulder feels too heavy.

“ARE YOU… ARE YOU LEAVING ME, HUMAN? DID I UPSET YOU? I… I CAN BE GOOD. WE DON’T HAVE TO PLAY PUZZLES ANYMORE. I CAN COOK THE HOTTEST SPAGHETTI. WE CAN FIGHT IN EXTREME BATTLESHIP WITH REAL SWORDS. PLEASE, please, DON’T LEAVE.”

 ‘ _It’s okay,_ ’ you try to mouth. There’s blood on your tongue. You never like the taste of it.

But he shakes his head and pulls you closer.

Is he crying? Wow. Skeletons can cry. Their tears are bright, the colour of their magic. Makes you want to curl up and wipe them away all at once.

No wonder Sans told you not to let Papyrus kill. You can’t stand the sight of his tears.

“I CAN… I CAN FIX THIS…” Papyrus puts his hand over your shoulder. He waits. But his hands remain bone. “WHY… WHY CAN’T I FIX THIS…? MY MAGIC… I DON’T… HUMAN, THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME… I DON’T UNDERSTAND…”

He starts to shake.

“I… WHY DO I WANT TO SEE MORE OF THIS RED WATER? NO, NO, I _DO NOT_. IT’S… IT’S SO PRETTY… NO, IT IS _NOT_. HUMAN, I DON’T… I DON’T SEEM TO BE MYSELF…” he looks in horror at his hands, “…I HAVE NOT BEEN MYSELF FOR A LONG TIME…”

Almost robotically, he towers over you, his eyes blazing orange once more. The red is brighter than ever in his eyes.

“OH HUMAN, I THOUGHT OF A NEW GAME. A FANTASTIC WAY OF SEEING MORE OF YOUR RED COLOUR.”

Several long bones spin above you, ready to strike, and you wish you could truly die.

Your heart-thing, though… You can see it in your hazy vision. It’s quivering, the silver down its middle shines despite everything.

Shrieking internally, you force your injured arm up, hearing a disgusting snap within your forearm. Doesn’t matter, you force your fingers to work. This is your body. You control it. And you’re going to give control back to Papyrus, no matter what.

You clap your hands together, in the same way you did before, to grab Papyrus’ attention.

The attack bones pause in mid-spin.

[ _Please, Papyrus,_ ] your fingers crack so painfully, twisting against veins in ways they’re never supposed to, [ _I know you’re stronger than this. You’re so kind,_ ] ow, [ _I… believe in you._ ]

The red flickers in and out with the white again.

“TI… TINY HUMAN…?”

Yes. You have to keep signing. Despite how much your hands burn and feel like knives have been shoved in every ligament.

[ _Do you have any silver scars? Please, I need you to show me_.]

Papyrus cries out in pain, holding onto his skull. “NO. YES. MY… MY SCARF. UNDER. IN. NECK…!” He screams, red enveloping his entire eye socket. “HOW DARE YOU CHEAT, HUMAN, I WILL PUNISH YOU!”

No, you’re so close. You have a feeling that if you die here, Sans will never let you back in to see Papyrus and he’ll never be free.

You can’t let that happen. You _can’t. Let. That. HAPPEN!_

Somehow, your heart-thing glows brighter than ever and your shoulder burns but you force yourself up and to _move_ , with the bone skewered in you, towards Papyrus. The pain will help you stay awake. You charge and charge, hissing as bones you can’t dodge stab through your thighs. Stay awake.

The red is flickering more than ever and Papyrus looks uncertain and so _broken_ that you gather what strength you have left and leap at him, as high as you can.

An attack bone snaps through your lower lung but there’s so much burning that it doesn’t matter because you’ve landed on Papyrus’ chest. You howl silently as the bones skewered through you, sink deeper, but you stay awake. You have to stay awake.

You spot the red scarf, spot the red returning to Papyrus’ eye sockets, and you yanks the scarf away with your teeth, see the glint of a silver scar across his neck, like a noose, and with the last of your strength, you pry it away.

Your blood leaves a trail of red against vertebrae.

White comes back to Papyrus’s eye sockets and you pass out with a smile.

-

“—have you done to Frisk, you bastard?!” you hear faintly. “Answer already!”

Flowey…? You blink slowly, brushing against something soft and warm.

Oh. You’re back in the blanket pile. Was it a dream…? You spot dark red stains on the floor. Never mind.

In front of you, Flowey has grown seven feet tall with thick green vines and the scariest face you’ve ever seen on him. He looks like something envisioned from hell, a hellhound, perhaps, ready to tear the earth apart. Or, more accurately, a cringing Papyrus.

You start clapping loudly, to get their attention.

[ _Don’t hurt him!_ ] you sign immediately but wince because of how tender your limbs feel. Papyrus must have healed you. If you had died, you wouldn’t feel these phantom pains, would you? [ _He helped me!_ ]

“Is that right?” Flowey sneers down at Papyrus, who stays uncharacteristically quiet.

“I… NO… THE HUMAN IS TOO KIND. AND I HAVE NO EXCUSE. THOUGH I WAS NOT MYSELF, IF I HAD FOUGHT HARDER, PERHAPS, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN HURT.”

“Well then,” Flowey resumes his attack.

You leap up, ready to take the hit, but both monsters jump towards you instantly, telling you to lie down and rest. _Idiot,_ Flowey calls you over and over again while Papyrus lectures you about taking care of your body. Their voices are overwhelming but that’s alright, at least they’re not fighting anymore.

“TINY… IS IT ALRIGHT IF I CALL YOU ‘TINY’?” Papyrus fiddles with his scarf nervously. You notice that he hasn’t put it on again. And the red against his neck bone hasn’t been washed off.

“Their name is Frisk, you punk,” Flowey snaps.

[ _I don’t mind_.]

“THEN, TINY, I… I AM SORRY. I HAVE… I HAVE HURT YOU SO MUCH. EVEN WHEN I FOUGHT IT, ALL MY PUZZLES WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU. I COULD NOT BARE IT IF I HAD…”

Flowey starts to growl, probably putting two and two together from the amount of blood on the floor.

[ _It… wasn’t you_.]

You glance quickly at his eyes, thankful that they’re white lights again.

“BUT IT _WAS!_ I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DESCRIBE IT. I WAS IN MY HEAD AND SOMETIMES I WASN’T BUT THERE WAS A VOICE. SUCH A SWEET VOICE, TELLING ME TO… TO…” his fingers clench at the scarf. “There is… no way I can atone for this. I WOULD NOT BLAME YOU IF YOU DECIDE TO LEAVE NOW.”

“We probably should,” Flowey whispers in your ear, finally shrinking back to compact form.

You shake your head. [ _I told you I would stay._ ]

“BUT…” Papyrus trembles, looking so small for one so tall, “…NO ONE STAYS.”

[ _Papyrus… do you remember all those plushies? How they would appear whenever someone was about to be dusted?_ ]

He winces but nods.

[ _Someone out there… knows how kind you are. And they never stopped believing in you either. They knew how heartbroken you’d be if you knew that you… dusted someone. So they watched after you. You might have felt alone… but you were never really –alone-. Do you understand?_ ]

Papyrus lets out a strangled breath. There are tears in his eyes, oh no, is this how Flowey feels every time you start crying?

[ _You’re so lucky, Papyrus,_ ] you try not to think of what little you remember of your mother, [ _Someone loves you very much_.]

You hear several deep sniffles as Papyrus buries his face in his scarf.

“TINY HUMAN, NO, FRISK… thank you very much. NOT JUST FOR YOUR WORDS… BUT FOR TAKING THAT SHARD OUT OF MY NECK. THANK YOU.”

You… don’t know what to say to that.

Flowey seems to sense your discomfort because he snaps, “Alright, alright, all that mushy crap. Now get out. I need to talk to Frisk alone for a bit.”

Papyrus looks like he wants to say more but he shakes his head and hovers by the door after he shuts it.

Apprehension and guilt floods you as you sign, [ _Flowey, I’m so sorry_ —] only to be cut off as Flowey throws his vines around you and buries his face in your hair.

Um. You tap nervously at one of Flowey’s leaves.

“Shut up, you moron,” Flowey says, still muffled against your hair. “Don’t you leave me again.”

Slowly, you nod.

“Ever. Got that?”

You nod again.

“I mean it. If I ever wake up and see you gone again, I’ll tear apart the next monster I see. I don’t care anymore.”

You… You’re not sure what to do? But you don’t think Flowey wants to talk about it so you wrap your arms around him and trace _sorry_ on his petals.

“Shut up,” Flowey says again, “we’re never speaking of this again.”

Okay, you nod again. All you can do is nod okay.

-

**Before:**

XXXXX slams a teacup down on the bedside table, making you flinch. Drops of hot tea nearly hit your fingers but you move away in time.

“There. Drink.”

You look at them in confusion.

“What are you waiting for? _Drink it_.”

Quickly, you acquiesce and fight the urge to blanch. This tea… does not taste like your mother’s usual. Normally she just puts the bag in and water, making the tea as black as possible. But this tea is so sickeningly sweet, like it’s been drowned in sixteen spoonfuls of sugar and some caramel too. There are hints of lime and basil too. Not what you expected.

“Well?”

You blink, not sure what XXXXX wants.

XXXXX growls in frustration. “How _was it?_ Good? Bad? Terrible?”

Um. [ _Really good._ ] Oh no, was that a test? Is XXXXX going to take the blankets away again?

Unexpectedly, XXXXX smiles super wide and they boast, “Well, I am the best at making tea, after all. Drink up. You don’t wanna stay a wimp forever, do you?” they waltz out the room.

You stare at the disgustingly sweet tea. This time, when you sip, it tastes a little better.

-

**Now:**

Two days pass and still no Sans. You can’t stay with Papyrus in his house forever. There are other mirror shards out there but you don’t want to leave Papyrus alone either. Why hasn’t Sans come home yet? Isn’t this why he trapped you in here? To help his brother?

So where is he?

Papyrus glances at the boarded up room sometimes and gets that faraway look in his eyes. You distract him with questions about his spaghetti recipe again and he makes you more. When he doesn’t use glitter, his spaghetti tastes wonderful and you tell him so. He blushes orange and seems determined to feed you plate after plate every half hour.

The way he looks at you, with stars in his eyes, like you’re a saint or some superhero, makes you so uncomfortable. Because you’re not. You’ve almost given up so many times. You were so scared. You still are.

Part of you doesn’t want to leave yet. Part of you wants to pretend that the curse doesn’t exist and you will stay safe here, with Papyrus and Flowey.

But you can’t be selfish. You have to be a good ( _such a good child_ ), you have to free everyone and find XXXXX.

So you tell Papyrus you have to leave.

“Oh.” His shoulders slump and you hate yourself for breaking your promise. You’re about to promise that you’ll visit when Papyrus stutters out, “WELL. OF COURSE. YOU… YOU HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT MISSION—”

You’re not sure where he got that idea from, you tried to avoid talking about the curse for the past two days. Maybe Flowey told him?

“—AND I KNOW I DON’T DESERVE IT, AND I CERTAINLY DON’T EXPECT YOU TO SAY ‘YES’, BUT TINY, IF IT’S ALRIGHT WITH YOU… COULD I COME AS WELL?”

Your throat goes dry and Flowey gapes, “Say what?!”

“I AM VERY STRONG. I WAS TRAINED BY THE BEST, AFTER ALL. AND I KNOW MOST MONSTERS RATHER WELL. I CAN HELP PROTECT YOU. I _WANT_ TO.”

Flowey growls, “I can protect them just fine, jerk!”

“I AM SURE YOU CAN, FLOWEY, BUT WOULD FRISK NOT BE SAFER WITH TWO OUTSTANDING BODYGUARDS INSTEAD OF ONE?”

“Flattery won’t get you nowhere, come on, Frisk! Frisk?”

You haven’t stopped staring.

[ _You… you really want to come…?_ ]

Papyrus nods eagerly. “ANYTHING FOR THE TINY HUMAN WHO SAVED ME.”

Ah. Right. He doesn’t _really_ want to be with you. He’s only doing this out of obligation. Guilt. Still, he’s the first monster to thank you for taking the shard out. He’s the first monster, besides Flowey, to stay.

A simple ‘okay’ is not enough. You walk over to him and hug him around his legs before you nod.

You think you hear a sniffle, but then he hugs you back and you feel less alone together.

-

Papyrus has to blast a hole through the bone wall for you to leave. Apparently only Sans knew the rhythm to get out. You’re not sure if you should bring up Sans with Papyrus yet, Papyrus seems determined to ignore that issue so you’ll wait. You try not to tremble at the sight of Papyrus’ attacks and Flowey awkwardly pats you on the head. He seems to like doing that a lot lately.

When the hole is complete, Papyrus and you walk out and stare into the dark woods.

“WHERE DO WE GO FIRST, TINY HUMAN?”

Glancing around, you spot your missing red thread, the one that snapped off your cloak when the walls shut.

[ _Do you mind if we visit someone first?_ ]

 

Interlude: Flowey

When he wakes, Frisk is not there.

Annoyance settles in first. That’s common since he lost his emotions. He’s aware that his old self would be appalled at how much he revels in annoyance now, but annoyance is _something_. It’s like amusement, not quite an emotion but close enough to make the boredom, the emptiness, bearable. That, and Frisk.

Frisk has been there since he turned into a flower. Frisk always does interesting things, even if they don’t know well enough to stay out of danger. If Frisk is dead, who will Flowey talk to? Who will cause him to feel annoyance or amusement or entitlement? Frisk reminds him of who he once was. Makes him remember what being good was like. Frisk gave him a purpose.

After an hour passes. Frisk still doesn’t return.

Boredom scratches at his mind like insects burrowing into his body.

Annoyance turns into a nauseating feeling he remembers as fear. And then anger. He remembers that too. He used to hate feeling this negativity. They had felt ugly to him but now he greedily takes in these emotions, revels in what Frisk makes him _feel_ again.

How dare they leave? How dare they leave him alone with his thoughts? He saved them. He SAVED them. He knew them when they woke. They’re not supposed to leave. They’re the only thing that interests him anymore.

Suddenly, he hears a cry of anguish.

Immediately, he thinks of Frisk and their glass-breakable-soul and how fragilely it’s put together and Flowey thinks _no_.

NO one will take Frisk away from him. Ever again. Not even Frisk themself.

Frisk is not allowed to shatter.

He’ll kill the monster or human that makes it happen.

The King Be Damned.

 


	4. i fell into elegies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the support! It means a lot =D The art portion of this chapter is still slowgoing. I hope to have the art for chapter 3 out sometime this week if I can.

** Part 4: i fell into elegies **

**Before:**

No one is in the gym today. After all, why waste your recess inside when there’s sunshine? But you happily sneak in and turn on the lights. Yup, no one here. No one to watch you.

Carefully, you turn the volume on an old portable CD player that you found in the trash, to maximum, and the first bars of “The Sugar Plum Fairy” echo off the walls. The tingling and breathy staccato strings makes you stretch out your hands and point your toes in the same position you’ve seen on TV. Then you breathe out and… let go.

You twirl and spin and feel like you’ve become part of the music, a petal of a sugar plum or the wings of a fairy. There is no curling up in bed, afraid of the slaps downstairs. No avoiding XXX in the morning. Just you and the sound of the universe.

Then you hear someone snicker and, like a puppet cut from strings, you slip on your bum.

Laughter echoes in the gym, swallowing up the music, and you look up to see some of your classmates and XXXXX at the door.

“What a pansy,” one of them sneers while XXXXX just scowls at you.

You wish the floor would swallow you up.

-

**Now:**

The three of you follow the thread carefully. Sometimes the thread snags against a root or branch but you take your time in trying to untangle it, wrapping the excess thread around your wrist. Papyrus fills the silence with stories about ice skating in a village called Snowdin. His stories makes you smile even if the thought of snow makes you shiver again. Flowey must notice because he interrupts several times, snarling about how stupid snow is and how Papyrus should keep quiet lest monsters come and attack.

Oddly enough, you haven’t run into any humans or monsters since you left the bone walls. More than an hour has passed and it’s like you, Papyrus and Flowey are the last beings left in the forest.

Every snap of a twig, every time the leaves rustle, you feel like running.

“WHAT KIND OF PERSON IS THIS TORIEL?” Papyrus asks when you nearly bolt at a crow’s caw.

“The crazy kind that locks you in a fridge,” Flowey says bluntly.

You cover Flowey’s mouth and shake your head. [ _She’s not like that_ ,] you try to calm Papyrus’s horror. [ _She’s just… it was the mirror!_ ]

“AH,” Papyrus looks down at the scarf he has decided to wrap around his right glove now. “THEN, WILL SHE BE JOINING US ON OUR QUEST?”

You don’t answer.

“Over my dead body,” Flowey grumbles, which Papyrus takes to be a joke.

The trees rustle again and you turn around, looking for the source of the noise. You think you see a silhouette disappearing into the dense, dark green. It looks familiar, like a child wearing a tutu. Maybe, your heart rushes, one of the children from the fridge?

You want to call out but Flowey is right. You can’t risk attracting the attention of other monsters. Hopefully you’ll run into one of the children later, after you visit Toriel. Or maybe… you try not to think, Toriel left with them all, because they weren’t the ones who made her cry. And that’s why she didn’t want to come with you…

“WELL THEN,” Papyrus’s voice interrupts your thoughts. “THESE WALLS ARE NOT VERY DECORATIVE.”

You blink at the sight of the branched walls, as shadowy looking as ever.

“Not like everyone walks around with the bones of their enemies,” Flowey snaps.

“EXCUSE ME, BUT THOSE ARE BONES THAT I CONJURED UP MYSELF!”

[ _Please stop arguing,_ ] you have to clap to get their attention again.

“I will when he stops being annoying,” Flowey growls though Papyrus insists that he would never want to offend your first official bodyguard.

Maybe you should just be grateful that Papyrus doesn’t have a temper ( _this is NOT how you play—_ ) and leave the matter alone. For now, you stare at the branched walls, feeling nervous and unsure. Should you knock? Try to knock your heart-thing out to make the glowing symbol again?

You don’t know.

“Yo, annoying skeleton. Be Frisk’s voice piece. You’re loud enough that _she’ll_ probably hear you,” Flowey suggests. Well, more like orders.

“I WOULD BE HONOURED TO SERVE AS YOUR VOICE, FRISK. PLEASE SIGN YOUR MESSAGE.”

Grateful, you sign, [ _Toriel, it’s me. The child from before._ ] You wonder if you should be more detailed. Toriel literally knows six other children. Children that she probably likes better than you. [ _I was wondering if I could talk to you. I still… I still forgive you. I… want to be friends. Please?_ ]

Papyrus stares at you oddly for a moment before he shouts the message to the wall. He does not make your ‘Please’ into a question, but something more like a request. You feel that the ‘Please’ has become Papyrus’s voice rather than yours and that warm tightness returns to your chest again.

You all wait for a long time. But Toriel never opens the walls. Annoyed, Flowey demands Papyrus to repeat the message again and Papyrus does. His translations of your message grow more and more annoyed every time he repeats himself until he shouts, “MONSTER TORIEL, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS. I AM HERE SPEAKING FOR THE TINY HUMAN FRISK AND WE HAVE BEEN WAITING HERE FOR A LONG TIME. PLEASE LET US IN. THE TINY HUMAN LOOKS VERY COLD AND WE COULD USE A WARM PLACE TO STAY.”

Embarrassed, you shake your head _no_ at him but Flowey shouts, “Yeah, what he said!” and then looks disgusted at himself for agreeing with someone he can’t stand.

When the walls still do not open, Papyrus grits his teeth and begins banging on the walls and you grab his leg and sign, [ _Please stop, Papyrus. I’m sure she’s just not home right now. We can come back later._ ]

“BUT, HUMAN, YOU CAME ALL THIS WAY—”

[ _I’m fine_ ,] you lie. [ _We can always come back_.] After all, you promised you would. Even if Toriel isn’t there anymore, you want to make sure.

Papyrus looks ready to argue but then his shoulders slump. “VERY WELL. BUT WHEN WE RETURN, I WILL GIVE THIS TORIEL A GOOD TALKING TO.”

[ _Please don’t_ ,] you insists, while Flowey sniggers.

“I INSIST,” and indeed, Papyrus looks very serious. Hopefully he’ll forget this idea after a few days.

“Where to now?” Flowey asks.

You re-tie the red thread to the branched walls and stare out into the wood. So many trees. So many different arrows painted on them, pointing to different walls and territories.

It doesn’t matter at this point. Your goal is still the same. Find all the mirror shards. Make a new wish. Find XXXXX.

Though, in a never-ending forest, finding every mirror shard might be a bit difficult.

You pull out what mirror shards you have and stare at them. [ _Papyrus, do you know where we can find more information about this?_ ]

Papyrus winces when he sees his reflection in the shards and steps back. “OUR KING, ASGORE, MIGHT KNOW. OF COURSE, THE LEADER OF THE ROYAL GUARD, UNDYNE, KNOWS EVERYTHING SO WE COULD ASK HER AFTER YOU FREE HER. THEN THERE’S…” Papyrus trails off, phalanges gripping at his scarf.

Undyne, you remember the monster child, should probably be avoided for now. Her name sends a chill down your spine. If she’s the person you think she is and she made this wish then… But a King! How exciting! You think you can recall there being a King of Monsters before and you’d always wondered what meeting royalty would be like. You recall interviews on the news… a fluffy looking and kind monster speaking about gardening…

[ _Where can we find the King?_ ]

“Oh _no_ , we are not seeing the fucking King, alright? They’re the one that got us into this mess. We save them for last. Or we decide to live as hermits forever. Those are our options and that’s _final_ ,” Flowey hisses.

Papyrus actually stumbles back. “THE KING… _OUR_ KING DID THIS?”

“...You could say that,” Flowey mutters.

You’re shaking again. [ _But… why? Why did he do this?_ ]

Flowey looks away. “There are some things that we shouldn’t talk about.”

Yet before you or Papyrus can ask any more questions, sirens rings throughout the forest like something from those WWII documentaries for bomb warnings. Papyrus shields you automatically, while you try to keep your breaths even. Flowey looks around for any attackers but the sirens ring so loud, he cringes and covers his face.

“Um… a-attention all Monsters! This… is an order fr-from… our… uh… King!” a haunting voice rings out, the type of voice that makes you feel like worms are wiggling in your chest. “There… there is… a human… they are… th-th-threatening our… _fun_ … little forest. T-Their name… is…. F-F-F-F-F-Frisk… and they are… wearing a r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-red cloak… Y-you are to… kill them on sight… a-a-a-again… and again. Until they, uh, s-stop? No. Wait. I meant, b-bring them to the… uh, er… King! A-After you kill them. Right. Um. Thank you. This has been a g-ghost… announcement.”

The message ends with a painful screeching sound, like nails scratching against chalkboards and you nearly forget how to breathe.

“Shit,” Flowey mutters under his breath while Papyrus tightens his hold around you, “the King must have found the Dog you freed earlier. Or Toriel. Either way, we’re not safe here. We need to hide. _Now_.”

[ _Wait! We can’t hide! It’ll be the same no matter what we do! Besides, what –was- that?!_ ]

“THAT WAS NAPSTABLOOK USING OUR SOUND SYSTEM. WE USED TO GET ROYAL ANNOUCEMENTS ALL THE TIME FROM THEIR COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM. IT IS LOCATED AT THEIR HOME. BUT I HAVE NOT HEARD THEM USE IT SINCE THE CURSE…”

“Whatever. The King knows you’re here. They won’t stop until they find you. We need to _go_ ,” Flowey tugs at your arm.

“AGREED,” Papyrus picks you up, ready to run, but you’re shaking too much.

This King. Has he been watching you this whole time? What are you doing to do with monsters actively searching for you now? Some might have left you alone, occupied with chasing other creatures but now…

[ _It doesn’t matter if we run_ ,] you sign.

“Uh, yes, it does! Less dying!”

“WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST?” Papyrus, bless him, asks.

You think of this King making such a selfish wish, a King who’s probably feeling threatened by you and wants you to join the other monsters and humans in the curse. You wish he was here, right now, so you could kick him where it hurts.

[ _We’re going to find Napstablook_ ,] you scowl, [ _we’re going to take that communications system out_.]

-

Both Flowey and Papyrus take your decision in two different ways. Flowey goes a swearing rant for ten minutes, listing reasons why this is a terrible idea and why you should all consider moving back to Papyrus’s home and boarding yourselves up forever. Papyrus, at first, looks a little worried but decides to take a confrontational approach, yelling that it’s better to silence the enemy first than hide. Or at least challenge them to puzzles.

Flowey and Papyrus argue back and forth about the pros and cons of each plan until you have to clap to get their attention again. Why no monsters ever show up from the noise to attack you all, you still don’t know. But all three of you wander aimlessly in the forest, trying to decipher the painted signs on the trees. Unfortunately, these signs aren’t very reliable. Sometimes pointing in opposite directions in the same location. Rather inconvenient, especially when you’re trying not to get your red thread tangled.

In the end, none of you have any idea where you are so you all decide to camp out inside a hollow grove carved out by giant tree roots and make a vote in the morning.

Knowing how stubborn Papyrus is, Flowey decides to spend the evening pestering you into changing your mind so the vote is in his favour. Only for Papyrus to loudly do the same. And… the arguments to resume.

“…they could come for us at any moment!” Flowey growls, “We’re _not_ making a fire!”

“But Then Our Human Will Be Cold!” Papyrus yell-whispers, stubbornly yanking the wood he gathered away.

“Just give them your coat, you don’t even need it!”

“No! A Fire Is Comforting!”

“Liar! You just want to make your damn disgusting spaghetti!”

“GASP!” Papyrus nearly drops all the wood in his arms. “B-but. You. You Ate It!”

“No, I tossed it out the window when you and Frisk weren’t looking.”

You have to jump in between them to stop Papyrus from tackling Flowey to the ground. Clapping just doesn’t work anymore. Your hands can only clap so loud.

[ _Fire for only one hour. Then put it out. No more fighting._ ]

“But—”

You cross your arms.

By some miracle for up above, they seem to sense your frustration and go to start the fire. Or at least Papyrus does. You don’t want Flowey anywhere near fire ( _you bleed out on the—_ ) and you would go to help but your eyes won’t stop drooping.

Vines brush against your hair and you hear Flowey whisper, “Go to sleep, idiot. I’ll keep watch.”

You want to say that you’re fine, that you can help out with making dinner and keeping watch too. After all, Flowey must be so tired from dealing with you again and Papyrus had to walk so far. Flowey grumbles around your neck and gently coaxes you to sit down.

“Just sleep already. We won’t disappear.”

Your eyes don’t like to listen so they drift shut before you can question Flowey anymore.

-

“Where are you, child?” Toriel’s voice echoes off the walls. You can’t move. You’re tired to a staircase made of red bones and down below, you see Papyrus in a cage.

“THIS ISN’T HOW YOU PLAY,” Papyrus snarls, eyes so red like his scarf. Toriel’s shadow dances along the walls, getting closer and closer to the cage.

 _NO!_ you want to scream, struggling against your restraints. But they scratch at your skin, trying to peel apart your layers and see the red that pumps inside. You look over and almost bite your tongue when you see they’re made of vines, twisting tighter and tighter.

“PLEASE, HUMAN, I AM… I AM NOT MYSELF,” Papyrus calls out once more, eyes flickering in and out.

Toriel steps into view at the top of the stairs, stepping down step by step, flames dancing around her claws.

You try to curl up. _Please don’t look at me_. But Toriel steps closer and closer to you, until her feet are right near your head and you can’t bear to look up, to see the desperate happiness there. She steps on your neck, your chest and your knees, descending further down.

 _Wait,_ you try to say, _where are you going?_

Papyrus starts to shake the cage. “ARE YOU HERE TO STAY? WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?”

Toriel only smiles.

_No, no, no, no, I saved you, I saved you both, please—_

Fire turns Papyrus into a pile of ash, and no matter how much you struggle, the vines hold you back.

-

You nearly hit your head on a hanging root when you burst awake. You have to grope around and check for Flowey’s vines around your wrist and Papyrus snoring by your side before you remember where you are. In the forest, sleeping under a tree’s roots, with Papyrus and Flowey. You pulled the mirror out. _You pulled the mirror out_. Right?

“wow kid, i don’t know whether to be insulted or blown away. didn’t think i looked _horse_ enough to inspired a night _mare_.”

This time, you really do hit your head against the root.

“sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya. i was just _hanging around_ with the trees here.”

You glare at him, trying not to smile. [ _That was an awful pun. Where have you been? Papyrus—_ ]

“let’s not talk about that right now,” Sans reaches up to pull you out of Flowey’s grasp and away from Papyrus. “we’ve got business to take care of.”

You shrink away from his hand and shake your head. [ _Explain_.]

Sans’s eternal smile actually seems to droop for a bit and his brow glistens with sweat. “look, kid, throw me a bone here. i’m stretched thin after warding monsters away from you all day.”

The former wound in your shoulder starts to ache again. [ _You… you’re the reason we weren’t attacked today…_ ]

Of course Sans wouldn’t let his brother out of his sight. You should have known.

“yeah well,” Sans looks away, “i figure i owe you a favour or two.”

You try not to wince as your shoulder burns sharply. The pain isn’t real. It’s healed. You’ve checked. Papyrus did a good job of fixing you up ( _after he stabbed you with a bone that was aimed for his brother and Sans just abandoned you in a flash of blue,_ XXXXX’s voice whispers in your ear, _why don’t you ask him why_? Stop it. Please. You wish your thoughts would stop pretending to be them. Besides, you already know that you’re not worth keeping around.)

[ _You don’t owe me anything_ ,] you sign, when you’re sure your hands won’t shake, [ _I should be the one thanking—_ ]

“nah, kid, trust me. i don’t have a humble bone in my body. but i owe you. what you did for pap… i appreciate it,” he looks at you so solemnly that you can’t look away, “haven’t seen him smile so honestly… in a long time. and… and that other thing you did—”

[ _Anyone would have—_ ]

“No. I **owe** you.”

You want to tell him that you would jump in front of any attack if it meant saving someone else from pain. You want to tell him that you didn’t do this for thanks or recognition. You don’t want him to be like Papyrus, looking at you like you’re something celestial and precious. You’re just you. And you’re not that special.

But the unsettling part of Sans, that you can’t seem to figure out, seems to be absent in this moment. When you look at him, you feel like you’re seeing part of the real Sans, whoever that is, and you can’t say no to that. There’s something painful between him and Papyrus, something he doesn’t want to talk about. Something that might blow up if you press any further and if going along with Sans’s whims will help… then…

You nod.

His shoulders relax and the chains behind him settle back down on the ground. “cool, now lend me a hand, here, kid, we gotta talk.”

Your lips tug upwards and you take his hand.

-

**Before:**

“Shut up.”

The kids next to XXXXX look at them warily. “Hey, dude, what’s with the attitude?”

“Yeah, we’re just messing around with the pansy. Thought you ha—”

XXXXX balls their fists together. “I said. Shut. UP!”

You and your classmates gape at them. Then your classmates start to glare. “Hey, _you’re_ the one who wanted to come in here, XXXXX, we thought—”

“I _wanted_ to get a soccer ball so we could play _soccer_. But you… you _morons_ , all you want to do is—URGH! Never mind! Why do I have to explain myself to you!?” XXXXX marches over to the CD player and yanks it into their bag.

Then they go over and yank you up by the hand.

“Come on, idiot,” XXXXX snarls, when you don’t move.

They march you out of the gym.

-

**Now:**

“whoa there, you alright, kid? not getting lightheaded on me, are ya?”

You blink slowly at Sans. [ _It’s nothing. Just… remembered something._ ]

Sans looks like he might pry, so you go to wake Papyrus and Flowey, figuring they might as well hear what Sans has to say when Sans yanks you backwards. XXXXX? you almost say.

“don’t wake them. no need to bother them about the mirror. let them _reflect_ on their dreams instead.”

[ _But—_ ]

“don’t you wanna find napstablook, kiddo?”

Your eyes widen. [ _You know where they are?_ ]

He shrugs. “i know a shortcut.”

[ _Then we should wake the others and go right—_ ]

“ **No.** ”

You don’t need to look to know that Sans’s eye sockets are pure black again.

Sans sighs, “ _eye_ did it again, huh? listen, you.. you care about pap, right? we don’t know for sure if monsters without the mirror shard can still… come back, you get me?”

A chill settles into your soul. That’s right. You hadn’t… you don’t _know_. Is Papyrus still able to keep dying over and over? Or does he have one life now without the mirror? What about Toriel? And that dog earlier? If the King found the dog warrior, maybe the dog warrior couldn’t escape and then there was dust but nothing reformed—

[ _But Flowey—_ ] he doesn’t have a shard. And he still came back from the dead. What about you? And Sans? Or—

“that thing is soulless, right? mirror probably doesn’t affect them. but it probably has one. you just haven’t seen it yet.”

 _Then,_ you think, _that means…_

Sans must realize what you’ve figured out because he nods. “yup. you and me? we got mirrors in us too. don’t you ever hear a voice whispering in your head—”

( _Don’t listen to this trash,_ XXXXX says, _should just  a b a n d o n  him like he did you_ —)

“—telling you to kill the ones you love? yeah, probably the curse. trying to get you to bend.”

You can’t… That voice can’t be…! But you think of the silver lining running through the middle of your heart and how it seems to hold your heart together. You think of how it remind you of Toriel’s tear-like scar and the silver cutting across Papyrus’s neck and—

[ _How… how are we…?_ ]

“not going berserk and ripping each other apart? eh. sheer dumb luck? determination? i gave up trying to figure that out ages ago. better just to go with it. though, some advice, kid? don’t try ripping your own shard out. doesn’t end well for you.”

You look at the chains around Sans. Could it be…?

“anyways. guess you can see why we shouldn’t be stepping on _glass_ here. it’s a real _fragile_ situation we’re in. shouldn’t put pap in danger or you’ll be in for a   b a d   t i m e  and you still gotta go play hero for me. so i figure, since i owe you, i’ll help you out for a bit. pop you in and out of nap’s place and papyrus and your little daisy will never know the difference.”

[ _Buttercup_ ,] you absently correct him but you doubt he cares. No, Sans doesn’t seem to care about anything but Papyrus…

( _How lucky for Sans to find a sucker like you to take his place,_ XXXXX sneers.)

You start to shake your head.

“what?” Sans narrows his eye sockets, “changing your mind? After making that pro—”

[ _I’ll go_ ,] you sign. You won’t let Papyrus dust in front of you. Not like that dream. [ _But… can you promise me something, Sans?_ ]

Sans hesitates. “i don’t make promises, kid.”

[ _A favour, than?_ ]

“ask away. won’t promise i’ll do it.”

[ _If… if I ever act like I’m going to hurt someone… please… tear that shard out of my heart-thing_.]

Sans looks at you the same way he did when you pushed him away from Papyrus’s attack. “out of… your soul?”

Oh. Soul. So that’s what it’s called.

Sans turns his head away before you can ask more about it. He grabs your hand. “let’s just take the shortcut, kid.”

With one step, you feel like you walk into another world.

Your red thread snaps away.

-

Sans’s shortcuts feel like everything you ever feared groping their hands around you and tossing you into the dark until you can’t swim any further and you tug and you tug, but bone fingers hold on to you and then suddenly—

You’re there. Somewhere else.

The most terrible sounds you’ve ever heard hit you as soon as you breathe and you feel like there are invisible violin strings trying to saw against your ribs, making you remember every time you bled out on a carpet and in a house of empty lights. The music whispers that you’re trash, worthless awful trash and you let out a wail that no one will ever be able to hear because your throat can’t work and there are tears scratching against your cheeks because you hurt so much you can’t—

Sans squeezes something into your ears and blissful quiet returns. Ear plugs. You notice that he has two fluffy marshmallows sticking out of his own ear holes. You start to smile. Slowly, you feel like yourself again.

[ _What was that?_ ]

[ _napstablook’s music has a way of tearing you up inside if you e-a-r it_ ,] Sans signs back.

His signs are slower than yours and a bit clumsy but you can understand them and you don’t know why, but you start to tear up again. Humans, you recall, don’t like to sign. You don’t think you’ve met another human that signs back with you regularly… XXXXX and Mother understood but they didn’t, you don’t _think_ they did, sign back…

[ _sorry, it’s kind of sloppy. my bro’s better at this than i am. popular with a lot of the non-verbal monsters. they really dig his voice. me? i wouldn’t have bothered to learn if it wasn’t for grillby, but anyways,_ ] Sans shrugs.

[ _No!_ ] you disagree, [ _You sign very beautifully. I like it!_ ]

[ _oh. well,_ ] Sans’s hood hides his face, [ _let’s… get going then. naps likes to float around in their family’s old mansion. it always gets them h-i-g-h._ ]

You’re not sure what Sans means until you look up.

Gravestones float in the air with mounds of earth still attached. Roots dangle down from clumps of dirt like corpse’s hands, trying to get back down into the soil. Above the gravestones, floats a giant gothic looking mansion with high looking windows. The house looks like it might open its doors and eat the graveyards as it blinks its window-eyes. It’s as pale as a sheet and in the windows, you can see colours flashing in different vibrations.

Even the gravestones shake with the vibrations. Below, where you and Sans are standing, snail shells are scattered everywhere by undug gravesites. When you look at the walls that surround Napstablook’s property, you think of prisons. Barbed wire decorates the entire fence though the fence itself seems frail, like wispy threads ready to blow away in the breeze.

You have the sudden fear that the gravestones or even the mansion might come falling down on you and Sans’s head.

[ _How are we going to get up there?!_ ]

[ _normally we’d ask a snail_ ,] what, [ _but i got another short cut,_ ] Sans grabs your hand again.

Nope, not again, _nope…!_

Too late. Sans tugs and then you’re squeezed into that darkness, can’t breathe, can’t tug away and—there, you’re _floating_ , actually floating in midair within a fancy looking room.

“huh,” you see Sans mouth, “never been in here before.”

This room is where you imagine gothic murders or fairy tales must take place. There’s a grand staircase that stops at a huge ceiling-tall portrait of several ghosts of different colours. Then the staircase slits off into right and left corridors that have fancy looking wood railings and more velvet curtains (just like the velvet carpets) except instead of looking healthy the curtains seem worn and stained. Cobwebs and normal dust (thank you sneezes) decorate every corner of the hallway along with all the floating lamps and mini tables.

As you and Sans float towards the staircase (via elaborate doggy paddling and breast stroke) you notice that there are also telephones floating near the ceiling, some card packs and record discs. You recognize some human bands like _Daft Punk_ and _L’Arc-En-Ciel_ as well as some monster ones like _Who Ate The Snails_ and _Fly Me to the Underground._ Some guitar picks and a harmonica nearly hit you in the face.

[ _Music really s-t-r-i-n-g-s you in the ribs, huh?_ ] Sans signs when a violin nearly slips into his rib cage.

Admittedly, you laughed at that one.

Everything thrums under the vibrations from upstairs.

You have to feel the railings to figure out where the strongest vibrations come from before you and Sans float towards the left corridor.

Sans pulls you back but you’ve already seen them.

Monsters and humans. About a dozen of them, huddled up against the walls, rocking back and forth or spiraling in the air with silent screams. Some of them mutter that they want to die. Some of them are so incoherent they keep banging their heads against the walls or clawing at their ears. So much red in between their nails.

You want to reach out and take them away from here. You almost take out your ear plugs but Sans stops you with a tight hand to your wrist.

 _No,_ he shakes his head. [ _Too much of a risk while Naps is still cursed_. _Gotta free Naps first_.]

Right. That makes sense. If you try to take their pain away, the monsters and humans will attack you when they regain their senses. And even if you take their shards out, they’ll be in pain. Either way, someone stays in pain.

This King. You want to shout at him so badly.

 _Okay,_ you nod.

Sans doesn’t let go of your wrist until he feels satisfied with your expression. Then you both move to the doors at the end of the corridor. With a flick of the wrist, Sans opens the huge doors and you both move in to see crumpled up pieces of paper everywhere. Some on the floor, some floating by the chandeliers.

Some of the sheets that pass by you are music compositions. Or splattered lines of wiggly notes trying to be music. You’re not sure. But you wish you knew how to read notes so you could know. Other sheets of paper look like diary entries and you try to avert your gaze for Napstablook’s privacy but you can’t help catching a few sentences.

_Dearest diary, Blooky and I had a fabulous concert today. I’m so glad I managed to convince them to write my music—_

_Oh Diary, darling, our cousin left to become a training dummy but I promise I won’t abandon our Blooky like our cousin did. Family sticks together and Blooky is all I have—_

_I met someone today they said they’d give me the body I’m dreaming about—_

_Sorry Blooky but I can’t stay. My dreams—_

The rest of the pages are ripped up or stained with drops of water.

Sans waves the papers away with his magic.

[ _just concentrate on getting the mirror,_ ] he signs, [ _don’t need to know their story to stop them_.]

-

In the next room, a hat made of tears hits you in the face and you can taste salt on your tongue. Loss has always tasted salty and bitter, like long nights spent trying to empty your eyes of cries. (It never works.)

You shiver but don’t try to shake the tears off of you. They linger on your face and hood, like they don’t want to let go. Sans, though, pops in and out between all the floating water hats with ease. He waits for you on the other side of the room but you can’t help but stop and look at all the fancy top hats and gardening hats. Some of them are half-formed, bits falling like rain to the flooded floor below.

So much water flows down from the door on the upper balcony of the room. The water drenches several feathered boas and sparkly clothes that hang on the walls. You see a hastily sewn ‘M’ on one sequined scarf. Several posters with a rectangular robot Mettaton on the front have the ink faded away.

Sans taps you on the shoulder and when you look up, you’re both in front of the door by the ceiling. The vibrations feel strongest here.

[ _alright, i’ll distract them. you just grab the shard_.]

Sans vanishes before you can sign a response. With frustration, you float over to the door and peek through it and nearly flip over in surprise.

Napstablook’s room is so dark, you can hardly see anything but for the soft glow of different vibrations from the digital speakers. The speakers themselves tower up to the ceiling and nearly block out the windows, leaving only a sliver of pale light to creep through. Different sound-boxes and amplifiers clutter around the floor where a collapsed chandelier lies. You’ll have to be careful not to step on the glass.

But floating in a little sheet-like ball, is a white ghost sobbing heavily towards the ground. They look like one of the drawings you think you drew for Halloween, very adorable with headphones against their head. But their entire being seems to shiver in ripples of pale red and they seem to be murmuring something to themself… words you can’t hear with the ear plugs on…

You can’t see a shard anywhere. Napstablook is _literally_ see-through. Maybe it’s under their headphones…?

A blue glow is the only warning you or Napstablook get as Sans appears from a shadowy corner and raises his hand. Glowing blue bones appear out of thin air and you have to bite your tongue and remind yourself that he _isn’t Papyrus_ and even if he was, Papyrus is _okay now_ , it’s fine—

The bones fly towards Napstablook at incredible speeds and you snap out of your shock, waving your hands around, because that is not a distraction, Sans, that is an _attack, what is he doing?!_

But Sans doesn’t listen and you float out, fast as you can, so you can intercept or clap your hands, except Napstablook can’t hear anything and the bones…

The bones strike Napstablook through the middle and the little ghost lets out what looks like an agonizing moan—

—only for the bones to fall straight through them and into one of the sound-boxes on the other side of the wall.

Napstablook floats there, shivering and moaning, but _not ash at all._

[ _huh,_ ] Sans signs after a long pause, [ _honestly, i did not s-e-e that coming_. _in hindsight, probably should have known an attack would just go t-h-r-o-u-g-h them._ ]

Before you can lecture him about attacking random monsters, Napstablook goes still when they spot you and Sans floating in the corner.

“Oh no,” you see them mouth, “there are people here. Staring at me. They must think I’m awful. They… they shouldn’t be here. Just leave me alone. G-go… GO AWAY!”

Napstablook’s shout sends you and Sans flying against the wall. You hear something crack in one of your wrists and hiss out. You try to get up, but Napstablook’s still shouting and their vibrations are so loud that you can hear some of their mangled pain seeping in through the ear plugs.

How long have they been screaming into the void or crying without anyone to listen? Did everyone leave them here… alone?

You have another stupid idea. And before your inner Flowey or XXXXX can protest, you tear out your ear plugs.

Napstablook’s screams, their music and their cries of horror, crunch at your entire being, make you feel like your very nerves have been scrunched together and then stretched across a pit of spikes. But you can’t think of that. You have to think of Napstablook. Bite your tongue, control the pain.

[ _Napstablook!_ ] you wave your arms to get their attention, [ _What’s a ghost’s favourite dessert?_ ]

They pause for a moment, confused at the sudden conversation.

[ _I scream!_ ] you smile.

Several strangled seconds pass before Napstablook starts to nervously chuckle. They look less see-through now and you think you catch a glimpse of silver within them, where their heart might be. You try to move closer but suddenly Napstablook starts to scream again, “Y-you… you-re t-trying to m-make fun of me, aren’t you! No, I won’t f-f-fall for it, just l-leave!”

They wail so loudly that you can’t ignore it. You’re spinning around in midair, thinking of your mother ( _I couldn’t handle the responsibility_ ) and Toriel locking you in the fridge and XXXXX walking away from you in the snow because you’re unwanted. You’ve always been unwanted. Who would want you—

-

**Before:**

“Stop being so _quiet_ all the time,” XXXXX yells when you’re both alone in an empty classroom. “Why don’t you stand up for yourself or shout?! Why do you have to sit there and take it?!”

-

**Now:**

_Because I’m not good at thinking up words. They’re like water and I can’t catch them all in my fingers. Because I lost my voice a long time ago and I can’t get it back and, hands, no one pays attention to hands, so I thought… I thought. Dancing. Dancing makes sense. It just… it flows. Like words should. Maybe by dancing… I could be good, I could be_ something _,_ X _h_ XXX _! But I can’t, I just—_

Something jams into your ears and then you’re back in that space between darkness and nothing and you can’t breathe, but someone’s got you, someone won’t let go and when you open your eyes next, you’re back in the room with floating hats and Sans’s phalanges digging into your wrist.

No. You can’t be here. You have to go back. Napstablook’s strangled music still rings in your nerves and tries to rip into your skin. Echoes of it scratch into your eardrums.

Sans pulls you back before you can try again.

He tries to sign, but you keep wiggling away and he has to push you away so he has time to sign, [ _what the hell are you doing, kid? why did you take your ear plugs off?!_ ]

Can’t Sans see? [ _Have to try again._ ]

You try to move forward.

[ _we can’t!_ ] Sans blocks your way, [ _all my attacks go through them and the mirror looks pretty fused with their form. look at you, your ears are bleeding! literally!_ ]

Oh. That’s why your ears feel mushy and cloggy. [ _Doesn’t matter. Gotta try_.]

But Sans doesn’t move. His brow is sweatier than ever. [ _think about it. naps wants to be left alone? fine. we destroy their speakers and then free the other monsters here. naps isn’t worth it_.]

His words make you feel colder than before. [ _How can you say that? You… you want me to keep my promise, don’t you?_ ]

Sans starts to fidget with his hands, his smile drooping. [ _Yes_ ,] he quickly signs, [ _but_ —]

[ _Then I’m going back._ ] You move again.

But Sans still doesn’t let go.

[ _i don’t understand… why… why,_ ] he looks down, shadows hiding his face, [ _why aren’t you giving up? why don’t you just go where it’s safe? your ears are b l e e d i n g._ ]

You don’t understand either. Sans doesn’t make sense. Asking you to keep your promise and then stopping you from trying.

[ _Don’t you hear them, Sans?_ ]

He looks so confused you have to laugh. ‘of course i don’t,’ he looks ready to answer, ‘i got ear plugs.’

You take that moment of confusion to pull yourself out of his grip. [ _Everyone needs someone to listen to them, Sans. I’m going._ ]

[ _kid, you’re going to get yourself killed!_ ]

It’s fine. You rush forward and open the door. Can’t let Sans block the way.

You’ve died so many times for them already. What’s a few more?

-

**Before:**

[ _I… I’m sorry…_ ] you try to sign but it’s hard to feel your fingers when your vision is all blurry and snot fills your nose. Oh no. You’re so gross. Why does X _h_ XXX put up with you?

“Oh… oh crap. I didn’t mean… stop crying, damn it! Here!” X _h_ XXX shoves their shirt at you.

When you shake your head, they just stick their shirt up your face and you blow your nose. Still, you can’t stop sniffling.

“Uh… hey… look…” X _h_ XXX looks away from you. “That dance… it wasn’t that awful, you know.”

You stare at them. Who is this alien and what did they do to X _h_ XXX?

“Urgh! No! What I mean is… Screw what everyone else thinks! I’ll kick them in the mud if they mess with you. If… if you wanna be quiet and stuff, fine, I’ll be your anger. If you wanna dance, fine, go rock that tutu or whatever… Just… do what _you_ want for once, Frisk.”

If… if this is a dream, then you don’t want to wake up because all you want is…

“A hug? Urgh. Fine. This once.”

X _h_ XXX opens their arms.

You can’t help it. You get X _h_ XXX’s shirt wet and soggy again but for once, it feels… okay.

-

**Now:**

For X _h_ XXX and for Napstablook, you’ll dance again.

Napstablook’s wails almost blow you out of the doorway but you stubbornly float in and close the door behind you (not that it will stop Sans) and you have to calm your breathing again. Remember the steps. The language of ballerinas.

You’re never going to be a prima donna and there’s no way you can dance gracefully in midair but maybe it doesn’t matter. Only the first steps do.

Quietly, you unplug your ear plugs, letting the blood drip down your neck, onto your cloak.

The music screams that you’re worthless but you think of Napstablook instead. You step out into first position and then… you leap into the air and you do your best to dance.

Napstablook’s ghostly music makes you want to curl in and be afraid, so you mime those emotions in yourself. Have your hands flutter downwards as you sway back in self-doubt. Then your movements grow stronger, your jumps higher. _I want to listen to you. I’m listening right now. Please, listen to me too_.

The music pushes back against you and grates at your skin. You can’t feel your ears anymore. Only hear distant thumps of the beats and Napstablook’s cries. But you just let go and you dance.

A pirouette for affection. A battement with raised legs as an invitation to join the music. You open your arms to them and you do the mime for love.

Napstablook stops shivering. They stare at you with such confusion and curiosity that you smile at them.

[ _What did the gender neutral ghost say to the other gender neutral ghost?_ ] you sign while you do a spin and a curtsy.

“I… um…” the red starts to seep away from their form. The silver scar within them glimmers a little brighter. “I don’t know… I’m sorry…”

[ _You…_ ] another step forward, [ _are boo-tiful!_ ]

Napstablook’s face turns a pretty silver. “Ohmygosh, I’m not?”

[ _Yes,_ ] you leap up until you’re face to face, [ _you are!_ ]

“B-But…” they start to cry again, fat tears plopping down to the soaked floor below, “everyone… everyone l-l-left m-me… I must have… I must have done something to u-u-upset them… I just… all I can do is cause p-pain so I might as w-well…”

[ _That’s not true! You didn’t upset them!_ ]

But Napstablook starts to become see-through again, the silver scar starts to fades and you can’t let that happen—

[ _Please… come dance with me?_ ]

Your hand trembles as you hold it out and you can barely hear anything anymore, or see Sans behind you, shouting—

Napstablook looks at you, eyes shining, colour returning and when they reach out to you…

Your hands go through them, grasping on the shard. You yank it away and Napstablook just… They look a brighter, as visible as a sheet.

They stare at you, as awestruck as Papyrus does, before they gasp, “Oh no! I’ve done such terrible things! I have to turn it off!” and whish off to shut the speakers off.

The strangling music shuts down and you let yourself collapse.

-

“…I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m so so sorry…. Did, um, did I mention that I’m sorry…?”

“…yeah. a skele- _ton_ of times. if you’re not careful, you might dig yourself into an early _grave_ ,” you hear Sans say, his jokes sounding darker than usual.

Groaning, you rub at your ears, feeling the dried blood sticking onto your skin.

“here,” Sans holds a… cat dog (? Hot cat?) against your nose. “eat it.”

You want to ask but Sans’s eye sockets look like the void again and you hastily scarf down the food. Oddly enough, your ears feel a bit better.

[ _Thank you_ ,] you sign.

Sans looks away. “don’t mention it,” he says blankly.

Ah. He… he’s probably mad at you. Well. That’s… that’s fine. You’re not good at making people happy.

To distract yourself from your thoughts, you look around. It’s the floating hat room again and you’re hovering just above the flooded floor with Sans’s jacket draped over you. Hopefully you didn’t get his jacket bloody or wet. You’d hate to return it damaged after all the trouble Sans went for your injuries.

Oh, and Napstablook is hovering by the ceiling, looking back and forth nervously.

You wave at them happily.

They burst into tears.

“I am so so so so _so_ sorry. I’ve been such a bother. And there’s still blood on your ears, oh no, oh no. I should just disappear—”

You shake your head frantically.

[ _It’s fine, I’m fine_ ,] though you hear Sans snort behind you. Yup. Definitely mad.

Napstablook looks unsure if they should flee into the ceiling or stay and believe you.

“But… but I… I was so awful… I pushed you away… even though you just wanted to help me… you’re so nice…”

[ _That’s not true! Your music… is very kind. Even if you were hurting people… it wasn’t from ill intent. You just wanted someone to listen. Your worst self still tried, in your own way, to be kind. That’s how strong you are._ ]

Napstablook quivers. “Do you… do you really mean that?”

Of course! You nod.

They bursts into tears again, but this time, they seem like the happy kind. Pearly and vibrant in the light instead of empty and dull.

“You’re so nice… I don’t deserve it…”

You look down at your hands, not sure what to say to that.

“how about thanking the kid, naps? they bled their _ears_ for you.”

That’s not a very funny joke, you think.

But before you can berate Sans, Napstablook appears next to you, murmuring, “Oh, how rude of me! But yes, I’m so grateful that you came! I’ve never… I’ve never had someone dance for me before! It was very, um… b-o-o-tiful and Ihopeyou’llstayforafewdays?”

You blush so much that you have to hide your face in your hands. Okay, you nod.

“O-oh! Yes! G-great! I’ll, um, make some sandwiches! Wait. Humans and skeletons can’t eat ghost sandwiches. And the nearest village is probably cursed. Oh no, what do I do…?”

“i got it covered, naps. went to a _ghost_ ery store to pick up hot cats and burgs. ketchup, relish, the works. i’ll keep the kid and me well fed. also, hope you don’t mind if we drop a few _guests_ over too. hope you’re not allergic to daisies.”

“Oh, um, any friend of yours is a friend of mine…? Oh gosh, that was really presumptuous of me, I don’t mean to imply we’re friends if you don’t want to be—”

You shake your head. [ _We’re friends_. _I like you_.]

Napstablook blushes so hard that they have to disappear for a bit and recover in their room.

Leaving you and Sans alone. You’re not sure if you should be afraid or not.

For a long time, Sans says nothing. In the quiet, with water dripping down to the flooded floors below, you fidget with his jacket and your cloak.

“come on,” he says suddenly, taking your hand, “better free the other monsters and humans. they’re kind of all _tied_ up.”

When he teleports you to the hallway, you see that every monster and human in Napstablook’s mansion is _literally tired up in Sans’s chains_.

The chains all glow blue every time a person tries to attack another and stops the person from moving. Then the chains rattle, as if waiting for praise from you or Sans and you have to rethink your previous theory about Sans.

You gape at them all until you realize that Sans is waiting for you to pull the shards out of each human and monster. You’re not sure why he won’t do it himself but you float over to each monster and human and ask their names. Sometimes they shout it at you. Sometimes they refuse until Sans glares them into submission.

Each time, Sans watches as you coax a monster named Shyren to show you her scarred tail and how you compliment a Froggit until it sticks out its tongue and you take out its shard. Woshu tries to spray you with water until you happily splash it back and fetch the shard from its glass-bowl shell and you gently approach Whimsel (dodging its attacks) until you can take its shard from it’s legs. Even the humans, though more violent, need coaxing. You smile at an old woman until you’re allowed near her forehead. You get into a flexing contest with a guy named Jason and you play peekaboo with a young kid named Riley.

When you’re done, each shard goes together until you have a quarter of a jagged semi-circle and you quickly wrap the large mirror piece up before it can whisper anymore lies to everyone in the hall.

Some of the victims, like Shyren, Whimsel and the old lady, cry when they’re free. Others like Jason and Woshu, give you a big hug (or spray?) and Froggit licks your cheek before it hops away. Riley just trembles and looks a bit lost before the old lady goes over to hug her.

“here you go, kid,” Sans says from behind you and you nearly fall over when you see Papyrus and Flowey teleported by your side, both of them still snoozing away. You have no idea what you’ll tell them when they wake…

“welp, i better be off,” Sans shrugs.

He’s leaving?! You know he’s mad at you but still!

You grab his sleeve. [ _What about Papyrus?_ ]

Sans’s face twists into that broken look again. “kid…”

Right. You promised yourself you wouldn’t push. But you don’t feel right leaving the issue alone either. Sans might not like you but…

[ _Can you do me a favour?_ ]

He looks wary. Tired. “told ya kid, no guarantee that i’ll do it.”

[ _That’s fine. I’m sure you’ll try!_ ]

His smile shifts into that empty placeholder again. “alright. shoot.”

[ _Can you go visit Toriel for me? Knock on her door?_ ]

Sans blinks at you. “the branched walls you were trying to visit?”

[ _Yes! I freed her… but she hasn’t… I don’t think she wants to talk to me. But… well… everyone needs someone to talk to! So, if you have time, can you please… just… talk to her for a bit?_ ]

Sans stares at you for such a long time that you think maybe he couldn’t read your signs. Just when you try to sign your message again, Sans puts a hand on his forehead. “geez, kid, you’ve gotta stop being so… so…”

You tilt your head up at him.

“never mind. just…good job kid,” he ruffles your hair.

With one blink, he takes his jacket and he’s gone.

You wish you could help him. But maybe… he and Toriel can help each other.

-

“ _Frisk why the hell are we floating and how the heck did we get here?!_ ” Flowey shrieks as soon as Napstablook reappears next to you with a box of hot cats that Sans apparently left for you.

Oh dear.

 

Interlude: Sans

no, no, no, _no_. sans is not doing this. not for this kid. for all he knows… that kid is—

but would someone like that dance for a ghost, make jokes with a skeleton and try to find out the names of every person they free? would someone like that run towards death like a friend?

his chains clang behind him, reminding him of his every sin. he can only hold them back for so long. it took all of his willpower not to restrain the kid with chains, not to see _papyrus_ in their face, as a baby bones, smiling so naively when _that person_ with their _knife_ dusted—

can’t do this. can’t care. if he cares, then… then…

branched walls block his path. he teleported here without thinking. _skies and earth_ , this kid is wrapping him around his finger. he won’t be manipulated like this. if he starts to see this kid the way he sees pap then this will all go to shit.

he should leave. right now.

‘cept, he can’t wish away how comforted that human girl riley looked when the old lady hugged them after the curse. can’t forget how the kid refused to fight naps (even though _death has no consequence here, damn it, kid_ ) and just… talked to them. listened to them.

all these monsters screaming into the void and one suicidal kid here to hug their guilt away.

it’s so tempting to use the shortcut back.

but no, sans grips his chains, silences them before they can clatter again.

he can’t. he _can’t_ even if it means that pap thinks—

his feet still won’t move. as he stares up at the branched walls, he thinks, what harm could it do? the former queen’s probably gone anyways, run off to find other freed souls. besides, he needs to practice his jokes.

“knock knock,” he says after thumping.

after a while, he thinks no one answer, so he shrugs, trying not to pay attention to the sting in his chest when—

“…Who… Who’s there?”

his soul starts to race. oh fuck, oh fuck, someone answered, what does he say, it’s the fricking queen, he has nothing to _say_ , it should be the kid here. the kid is good at saying things. the kid is pure and he—

“adore,” he spits out because might as well. it’s not a slip or anything.

“…Adore who?”

holy mount, she’s playing along, she’s going to think he’s so lame but whatever, he’s got an audience and he’s not thinking about the kid and how they’re probably walking into death again without him watching—

“a _dore_ is between us.”

silence. welp. abort mission. time to wander around and contemplate the pointlessness of existence again and not think about how many times that kid let their ears bleed or how bones crushed their tiny shoulders apart—

suddenly, he hears the most beautiful, genuine, laughter ever, and the only thing to ruin this moment is that this laughter is muffled through the walls.

“That was,” snort, “a _door_ able. Do you… um… do you have any more?”

and sans suddenly _knows_ that this was the kid’s plans all along.

fuck it, he’s screwed.

_why you have to be so kind, kid? i won’t… i won’t be able to kill you like this._


	5. i fell into spears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you sooo much for the wonderful detailed response. This story is dear to me so it's great to have as many readers that I have. Thank you with all of my heart.

** Part 5: i fell into spears **

**Before:**

You’re four again. Or maybe six. Mother doesn’t really celebrate your birthday. She says you need to save money for food so you smile and accept it but X _h_ XXX always hisses about how unfair this is, when you’re both curled up for bed. On those days, X _h_ XXX likes to borrow a dollar or two to buy themselves some chocolate or gumballs on their birthday. If you’re quiet about it, sometimes X _h_ XXX gives you a piece and your guilt tastes like sugar.

But you’re four. Or maybe six and you’re sitting on the swings. X _h_ XXX sits next to you, like always (back then). Both of you put your weight together and try to swing as hard as you can, maybe even reach the sky. X _h_ XXX stopped trying to reach the sky a long time ago, but you still sit on that swing sometimes. You still like to look.

Suddenly, you stop in midair. The swings turn wildly and both of you hang on. When the swing stops, you stare up at Sam, one of your classmates. You hide behind X _h_ XXX ‘s shoulder as soon as you see him. Sam sneers at you both and tells you to get lost. “These are my swings, go scram!”

X _h_ XXX scowls. “No way. You can’t _own_ the swings!”

“Sure you can,” Sam gestures to the steel bars. In yellow paint, you see his name scrawled there.

“That’s _cheating!_ You’re a sneak!”

Sam pushes X _h_ XXX and you backwards into the sand.

“Hey, you can’t—”

“What?” Sam kicks sand at you both, “Kick you? Because you’re girls? I _heard_ you yesterday. Whispering to each other. You said you weren’t either. Boy _or_ girl. You must be some kind of freaks. There ain’t any rules about hitting freaks.”

X _h_ XXX’s face twists and suddenly they’re tackling Sam to the ground, both of them rolling around, trying to get a punch in. You cry out and try to pull them apart, only to get knocked over, and when you get up, you see… you see—

Sam stands over X _h_ XXX, a strange bewildered look in his eyes.

X _h_ XXX lies so still that they could be sleeping. You… you barely know what to think, what to say. You think X _h_ XXX will get up at any moment and start sneering again, like they always do. But blood dribbles down their nose and you see dark liquid from the back of their head.

‘X _h_ XXX?!’ you wordlessly call out, trying to check their hands. Their face.

You stare up at Sam. He stares at you. For the first time, you don’t shake. You don’t hide.

You pick up one of the rocks by your feet. And you throw it.

-

**Now:**

[… _Sans… might have teleported me to Napstablook’s place while you were sleeping_ ,] you hastily sign while Napstablook stares at Flowey nervously.

Flowey has his monster face on again. And he’s seven feet tall, towering over every being in the hallway.

“…What did you say?!”

[ _Sans might have—_ ]

“Yes, I know, I just mean—argh! That stupid smiley trashbag! I can’t believe you followed him again! Don’t you listen to anything I say?!”

You wince. A memory of your mother saying the same words echoes in your head.

[… _I’m sorry_ ,] you say to Flowey and your mother. [ _I didn’t mean to…_ ]

“No, Frisk, this is not okay! We made a promise! You can’t keep _leaving_ to go help these… these…!”

He grows even taller, his shadow descending on all the beings in the hall. Napstablook and the others cower closer to you, some of them behind you. Napstablook, though, starts to move beside you and—

“WOWIE, WE’RE IN NAPSTABLOOK’S MANSION?! FRIEND FRISK, YOU DID NOT TELL ME THAT YOU WERE SO STRONG! NEXT TIME, YOU DO NOT NEED TO CARRY ME AND FLOWEY SUCH A LONG DISTANCE. PLEASE WAKE ME, I WILL HELP! YOU SHOULD NOT STRESS YOUR HEALTH!” Papyrus wakes like someone’s flicked on a switch.

Barrowing past Flowey as if it’s normal for plants to grow eight feet high, Papyrus scoops you up for a hug and checks around for injuries. Immediately, he sees the dried blood trailing from your ears and he gasps.

“HUMAN, DID YOU FIGHT ALL ON YOUR OWN?! WHY DID YOU NOT CALL FOR HELP?! DID I SLEEP SO DEEPLY THAT I MISSED YOUR CALL?! HOW GREAT MY SLEEPING ABILITIES ARE, NEXT TIME, I WILL SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN SO I MAY COME TO YOUR AID ON TIME! COME, WE MUST TREAT YOUR WOUNDS!”

He rushes off, with you tucked under his arm, trying to find the nearest bathroom and ‘human health kit.’ Then he doubles back and waves to everyone else in the hallway, “SO SORRY TO BE RUDE. YOU PROBABLY KNOW ME, BUT I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND I AM AIDING FRISK IN THEIR WONDERFUL QUEST TO BREAK THIS FOREST CURSE!”

“O-oh… um… n-nice to m-meet you too…?” Napstablook answers.

“GASP!”

“U-uh…?”

“ARE YOU A GHOST?”

“Um… y-yes?”

“ARE YOU NAPSTABLOOK?”

“Er…”

“WONDERFUL! THEN YOU’VE MET THE HUMAN ALREADY! COME, WE MUST HEAL THEM!” Papyrus grabs Napstablook (somehow?) and drags them along too.

No one comments on the fact that Flowey has shrunk and tied himself tightly around your wrist.

-

“I DO NOT THINK THIS LOOKS RIGHT.”

“If it’s keeping the blood from gushing out then it’s good enough.”

“FLOWEY! WHERE IS YOUR SENSE OF AESTHETIC PLEASURE?!”

“Dead when I became a flower.”

“I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS JOKE.”

“Urgh.”

You fidget, staring at your reflection in the watery floor. Bandages cover the top part of your head, now resembling a bandaged cap. Napstablook had helpfully, but hesitantly, told Papyrus not to cover your eyes up.

Suddenly, Papyrus is inches away from your face, narrowing his eye sockets in concentration as he points a marker to your head. “PLEASE STAY STILL, FRIEND, I WILL MAKE SURE YOU LOOK AS HEROIC AS YOU ARE.”

You bow your head. You don’t deserve these words. [ _Papyrus…_ ]

“PLEASE, FRIEND.”

His hands are trembling and Papyrus has that broken look on his face again.

“LET ME DO THIS FOR YOU.”

How can you ever refuse?

When he finishes, his hands are steady again. You look down, and you see stars inked on your bandages, swirling around you like your mind is made of bits of sky. ‘A great friend,’ Papyrus wrote in swirly letters, bits of stardust caught in your hair.

In front of you, Papyrus fidgets with the scarf tied around his hand.

[ _It looks wonderful,_ ] you don’t have to lie, unlike later. You’ll have to lie so much later. Stubborn Sans.

“OF COURSE,” Papyrus beams, “AFTER ALL, I WAS THE ONE WHO DREW IT! AS AN APOLOGY. NEXT TIME, I WILL DEFINITELY COME WHEN YOU CALL, MY FRIEND.”

“Pfft,” Flowey snorts, “as if Frisk is gonna call us first. They’d rather march in _alone_ , wouldn’t they?”

Your eyes sting but you can’t find an answer.

“FLOWEY, THAT IS NOT VERY NICE! FRISK WILL DEFINITELY CALL US, RIGHT?”

You stare at your shoes and remember what Sans said about protecting his brother. Without his mirror shard, will Papyrus come back from the dead still?

When monsters die, are they made of stardust too?

-

“U-um… I hope that will be enough… I could try and s-sneak some candy from the nearest s-shop… if I’m quiet, I can get other food too if you’re tired of hot cats…” Napstablook floats by you.

[ _Thank you but I’m full,_ ] you smile.

“BUT HUMAN YOU BARELY TOUCHED YOUR FOOD!” Papyrus exclaims. “GASP! COULD IT BE THAT YOU ARE WAITING FOR MY DELICIOUS SPAGHETTI?!”

[ _No, I’m just full. I had a hot cat earlier from… yeah, from earlier._ ]

Flowey narrows his eyes. “I’m sure you did,” he keeps his vines close around your wrist so he can watch you. When you had asked him if he was going to stay attached to you all night, he muttered, ‘if it keeps you from running off, then yes, I am now part of your arm.’

“Oh, but, you’ll tell me if you need anything, right?” Napstablook starts floating back and forth. “I, um, want you to be comfortable here. I tried cleaning up the cobwebs and the dust so you can breathe better, oh, and I can get you more blankets maybe—”

“Yeah, you can go now,” Flowey scowls, making Napstablook pale.

You glare at him. [ _Don’t be rude. Napstablook is trying to be nice_.]

“And let me guess, they tried to _kill you_ before all this sucking up.”

Instantly, Napstablook tears up again. Their tears float up, gathering into one of their cute little dapperblooks. “Yes, I did, and it was awful of me. I am so sorry. I can disappear if you want to be left alone. Oh, you probably want to be left alone, don’t you? Oh no, I’m awful—”

[ _Wait, no!_ ]

Too late, Napstablook vanishes into the ceiling. Probably to cry in their room.

You frown at Flowey. [ _That wasn’t very nice_.]

“Good. Not my job to be nice. That’s your department,” Flowey grumbles, then he steals the hot cat that you didn’t eat.

Too busy thinking about earlier conversation.

Flowey had insisted, earlier, that you should all be given some privacy so you could explain what happened. Napstablook had done their best to explain, though they kept bursting into tears and apologizing before they could finish.

“—And after S-Sans came in and p-picked up Frisk when they fell—”

Papyrus had nearly flipped over in midair. “SANS!? HE WAS HERE?!”

Oh no. You had no idea what to tell Papyrus at the time. Lie? No, You couldn’t possibly after Napstablook let this detail slip. Elaborate? Also no. You didn’t want to find out what Sans meant by a ‘bad time.’

All you could do was nod.

Papyrus had not asked you what Sans did or why Sans decided to disappear. Instead, he had fiddled with his red scarf again and had nodded. “I… I SEE… SO HE… HE LOOKS ALRIGHT? HEALTHY?”

 _Don’t think so,_ you don’t sign. How can you? Sans never talks about himself but you can’t help but feel like he’s cried so much that he’s forgotten how to. Smiling is his default. His smiles feel like scars to you.

“Oh, he was so angry! B-but, that’s my fault… I deserve it—”

“DOES HE LOOK _HEALTHY_ , THOUGH? IS… IS HE EATING WELL?”

“He… had a hot cat?” Napstablook offers.

Papyrus looks to you and you nod numbly again.

Then Papyrus starts to laugh, hands in his head in mirthful grief.

“SO HE STILL EATS GREASE. I KEEP TELLING HIM THAT HE… WELL, I used to…” Papyrus turns on a blinding grin again, “AH, BUT SPEAKING OF FOOD, TINY HUMAN, HAVE YOU EATEN YET?”

The conversation had ended there.

Sans and Papyrus really are related. Sometimes they have the same smile.

Is the smile Papyrus wears right now the same? You’re not sure.

“HUMAN?” Papyrus notices you staring, “IS THERE SOMETHING ON MY FACE?”

[ _Uh, no! I just… I should see Napstablook_ ,] you float up to their door. Later. You’ll ask Papyrus about all of this later. You just… you can’t bear to ask. Not yet.

-

“Thank mount, we’re away from him. He never shuts up,” Flowey grumbles but he doesn’t stop looking at the door behind you, as if Papyrus will march-float in at any second.

Flowey probably likes Papyrus more than he likes to admit, but you don’t tell him that. Instead, you look around Napstablook’s room, relieved to see all the speakers still shut off. The floor remains wet with water and the windows are shut. Napstablook doesn’t seem to be here but—

You hear someone trying to stifle their sobs.

“Urgh, are they seriously leaking too? _Come on!_ I didn’t say anything _that_ bad!”

One glare at Flowey makes him quiet.

“…should just disappear… I’m so worthless… Ah! No! I’m not supposed to think like that! If I think like that, I’ll do bad things again. Just. Um. Think about the snail farm. Think about Met—no, um, think about… music! Frisk likes ballet, right? Maybe they’ll like me more if I make them a mix CD… oh but they’ll probably hate it… oh no…”

 _Napstablook…_ Your throat clogs up with burning tears.

[ _I would love it_ ,] you float in front of them.

“Ahhhhhh!” If Napstablook wasn’t already a ghost, you’re certain they would become one now with how pale they turn. “I… I… I’m so sorry you had to see me like that! Especially after… after I…” Napstablook looks at your ears and bursts into tears again.

“Oh my god, do they _always_ leak when you try to say something to them?!” Flowey hides inside your hood, either out of disgust or frustration.

[ _Napstablook_ ,] you try to sign.

“I can’t believe I did that again! I shouldn’t have—oh, I should just disappear…!”

 _No,_ you’re about to protest, but all of you jump when you hear Papyrus boom.

“NAPSTABLOOK,” Papyrus kneel-floats beside them and bows like a knight, “PLEASE DO NOT DISAPPEAR!”

“Iwannahuh?” Napstablook blinks in surprise.

Papyrus smiles warmly at them.

“IF YOU DISAPPEARED, OUR HUMAN WOULD BECOME GREATLY DISTRESSED AND I DO NOT THINK STRESS IS GOOD FOR TINY HUMANS. BESIDES, You… YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS HARMED THEM BECAUSE OF THIS CURSE. FRISK SAVED me AS WELL. I KNOW THAT THE GUILT FEELS AWFUL But It Was Not Your Fault! IF YOU EVER FEEL THAT WAY, PLEASE COME TALK TO ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS. I WILL WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS,” he makes a show of encircling the air around Napstablook as a sign of trust.

Napstablook’s cheeks shimmer in the prettiest silver that you have ever seen, the kind of silver you would imagine if the stars decided to come together to make a curtain.

“Oh, I, um, t-thank you… I… I didn’t think… that other people would want to talk about it… I… I will think about it…” Napstablook looks down and leans close to Papyrus, “Thank you again.”

“NO NEED! EVERY BEING NEEDS SOMEONE TO TALK TO. I AM ONLY DOING WHAT IS RIGHT!”

“Still…” Napstablook looks at you and Papyrus with a warmth that makes you want to look away, “…thank you.”

Papyrus is so very kind, you think. Too kind to get mixed up in your journey. Maybe… maybe you should convince him to stay with Napstablook, where it’s safe. Maybe they can talk to each other, heal, in the same way that you hope Sans and Toriel will.

Where you walk, there won’t be time for that.

[ _Napstablook… I was wondering… could you do me a favor?_ ]

“O-o-o-of course!” they blush fiercely, “Anything!”

[ _I’m worried about everyone who’s been freed of the shards. I don’t know if they can still come back to life anymore and if they run into any cursed beings… they might die. For good_.]

Everyone gapes at you. None of them had thought of this.

[ _So I need to send them someplace safe. Is it okay if everyone I free stays at your place? Can I tell them to come here?_ ]

“W-what? Really? Here? But… I… I’ve never been a very good host before…”

“YOU ARE DOING A SPENDID JOB! THOSE HOT CATS WERE REALLY YUMMY. NOT AS YUMMY AS MY SPAGHETTI THOUGH.”

“But…”

[ _I believe in you, Napstablook! There’s no one else I can trust for this job. Please help me?_ ]

At first, Napstablook seems ready to protest. But they look down at their teary floor and they nod. You clap your hands happily and hug them.

“Great. Wonderful. But are we forgetting that Napstawhat runs the King’s _communication system?!_ What happens when the King visits? What if the King puts mirror shards back in everyone living here?!” Flowey pokes out of your hood.

Napstablook pales, “Oh no!”

[ _Papyrus can look after things, right?_ ] you think quickly. But no, wouldn’t that put Papyrus in danger again? What if you don’t get all the mirror shards in time? What if the king comes back before you can get them all?

“AH, BUT I SWORE AN OATH TO PROTECT _YOU,_ LITTLE HUMAN! PERHAPS WE CAN ENLIST THAT WOMAN TORIEL’S HELP—”

“Oh wait! I forgot!” Napstablook floats over to the top of one of the speakers where a small laptop is folded over. “The King doesn’t come here in person. He always leaves a message on my laptop for me to record. I can just broadcast as normal. Um. Well. If that’s okay. Oh stars and earth, the last broadcast I did put a mark on you, Frisk, I’m so sorry—”

“You should be,” Flowey mutters.

[ _No, it’s fine! It’s better this way. Every cursed being will be looking for me now, not anyone I’ve freed. I’ll be bait. Makes it easier to find people to free_.]

“B-But F-Frisk…!” Napstablook shivers.

“DO NOT FRET, NAPSTABLOOK, I WILL LOOK AFTER OUR HUMAN AND SEND YOU UPDATES.”

“What am I? Invisible?” Flowey scowls.

“BUT OF COURSE, FLOWEY IS FRISK’S MOST TRUSTED BODYGUARD SO NOTHING CAN GO WRONG!”

Napstablook still looks uncertainly at you before they agree to your plan.

-

“WHERE ARE WE OFF TO NEXT, TINY HUMAN?”

[ _Papyrus… are you sure you still want to come? You can still stay if you want—_ ]

“NONESENSE! I MADE AN OATH AND I WILL KEEP IT.”

[ _But_ —]

He puts his hands against yours. “I MADE MY DECISION A LONG TIME AGO, FRISK. I KEEP MY WORD.”

“O-oh! I think I see it! There!” Napstablook appears between you both and pushes you towards the telescope they pulled out. “Waterfall village should be in the east.”

“WATERFALL?”

You look down at your boots. [ _I ran into a monster child and they mentioned that someone named Undyne told them that humans lie… I think she might know something about the curse. We should free her next—_ ]

Papyrus nearly falls back. “UNDYNE? BUT… SHE ALWAYS SEEMED SO…”

“Y-you know her too?” Napstablook asks.

“YES! SHE TAUGHT ME HOW TO COOK AND FIGHT! SHE IS THE STRONGEST WARRIOR I HAVE EVER MET, STRONGER THAN EVEN THE GREAT ME. I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT IF ANYONE COULD HAVE BEAT THE CURSE… IT WOULD BE HER.”

“Yeah… she’s kind of scary… but she always took time to listen to my music… she even did a piano arrangement of my mix once…”

Flowey snorts, “No one can beat the curse.”

Quietly, you try not to flinch. What about Sans and you? And Flowey too? Are you three the exceptions? Or will the curse eventually come for you all…?

( _You’re already cursed, Frisk,_ X _h_ XXX whispers in your head, _I’ll come for you soon._ )

“FRISK WILL.”

You blink out of your thoughts. What?

Papyrus stares at you with more certainty than you have ever felt in a lifetime. Him and Napstablook. “FRISK CAN DO IT. I KNOW THEY CAN.”

Your fingers shake. But you nod. What else can you do but go forward?

Flowey remains silent, his leaves curling closer around your neck.

-

Everyone sees you off at the mansion gates. Surprisingly, you see a line of snails at Napstablook’s front steps. The snails nudge at you, some of them crawling up your legs and arms and you can’t help but silently giggle.

“Ah, wait, Turbo, you’ll get Frisk’s cloak wet!” Napstablook tries to scold them.

Flowey hisses at them to back off. But snails are rather slow at hearing words and happily settle on your shoulders and slime up Flowey’s vines, much to his disgust. Papyrus yells that these snails are truly amazing and that he would love to watch them race some time.

“Stay safe out there,” the old lady tells you while Shyren quietly hums a comforting ballad to you. The tune feels like an old memory, loving and nostalgic.

“Remember to wosh your hair,” says Woshu. He’s sprayed you, Papyrus and Flowey at least seven times by now.

Froggit, on the other hand, stares solemnly at you for a moment before he says, “Remember it’s alright not to feel merciful all the time. You can be angry. It’s what you do with that anger that counts.” Then he hops away, somehow sounding mysterious with a single ribbit.

The others give you hugs and tell you to kick some butt, to give the King what’s coming to him. You’ve never had so many people come to say goodbye to you before. At least you don’t think so. Their prayers and wishes fill you with warmth and you can’t help but smile at them.

 _Thank you_ , you think, _for letting me save you_.

“Um, Frisk?” Napstablook hovers next to you, “Here.”

They float a pair of earmuffs to you. The earmuffs are fluffy with little snails sewn on the sides. The snails have the same cute eyes that Napstablook does.

“I… I know you want me to stop apologizing… but I really am sorry… so I made you these! Um, I hope you like them… they’ll keep your ears warm and sometimes it’s nice to have some quiet. Not that I think Papyrus is too loud! Just, some quiet is nice. And, um, there’s a button on the side. So, well, if you need any help… anything at all… you can just press it. And I… I promise I’ll be there as fast as I can!”

 _But,_ you think, _I can’t ask for help, I can’t risk hurting—_

“Please take it.”

Can’t refuse this. Napstablook made it just for you.

Carefully, you hold the earmuffs up and you let them settle snuggle around the back of your neck, ignoring Flowey’s complaints. You’re not sure what to sign. Thank you doesn’t seem enough.

So you curtsy at Napstablook and you hope they understand.

-

The woods are like a nightmare returned after Napstablook and the others send you off with their tears and wishes. Tree branches seem to reach down towards you with their crooked branches, ready to scoop you up by the cloak and hang you.

Thanks to Napstablook’s hastily drawn map, you don’t feel as lost as you used to but the forest still makes you feel like you could wander forever and never stop.

But eventually, the air seems to get cooler, moister. Papyrus nods at the map and points excitedly at the circled mark for ‘Waterfall Village.’ “WE’RE ALMOST THERE, TINY HUMAN! OH, YOU WILL LOVE IT! THERE ARE SO MANY MINI-WATERFALLS AND RIVERPATHS. BEFORE THE CURSE, WATERFALL VILLAGE WAS ONE OF THE BEST TOURIST SPOTS IN OUR CITY NEXT TO THE GREAT ME’S PUZZLE HOUSE! LISTEN! YOU CAN HEAR THE WATER NOW!”

He cups your ears and both of your close your eyes. Even Flowey sighs and joins in.

At first, you only hear the usual forest noises. Crows cawing. Lightly swaying leaves. Bugs buzzing about. Flowey starts to complain that this is pointless but Papyrus shushes him and then… you hear it!

The soft rumbling of water rushing down rock towards the ground below. Water molecules clinging together and moving intently through the forest, watering roots and trickling stones. You breathe the sounds in and pretend that you’re near the sea with wide expansive blue. And in the distance… you think you hear chimes.

Papyrus grins when you open your eyes. “UNDYNE SETS UP A LOT OF MUSIC PUZZLES FOR THE CHILDREN TO FIDDLE WITH WHEN THEY VISIT! YOU WILL LOVE THEM! COME, LET US QUICKEN OUR PACE!”

He grabs your hand and races forward.

“Slow down you bastard!” Flowey roars, “We don’t move that fast!”

“OH! I FORGOT! SHALL I CARRY YOU?”

“Not unless you want to lose an arm.”

You giggle silently but start shivering instead.

“Maybe you should put on those earmuffs after all,” Flowey pokes.

You shake your head. If someone comes close, you’ll need to hear.

“Don’t be stubborn! Look at you, we’ll have to pick you up another coat or something, you’re always cold!”

“NO NEED TO WORRY, FLOWEY! WATERFALL VILLAGE HAS MANY STORES WE WILL BE ABLE TO BUY COATS FROM ONCE WE FREE EVERYONE THERE!”

“How many times do I have to tell you to keep your voice down?!”

But, as usual, nothing seems to stir at Papyrus’s voice. Sans is probably watching, picking away any monster or human that threatens his brother. You wonder if Sans bothers to take their shards. Does he have a collection of mirror shards in his pockets too? All the monsters you’ve met so far have refused to touch the shards again (not that you blame them) but you can’t help but think of why—

The bush next to you rustles.

“Get down!” Flowey pulls you back behind Papyrus, his vines twisting towards the bush while Papyrus summons up giant glowing bones ( _that is not how you play_ ) and you try to clap to get their attention but they’ve grown immune to that by now—

“Woof!”

A suit of armor falls through the leaves and a white little dog crawls out, dragging a heavy bag behind it. The armor looks familiar… like the dog you freed before… Wait a minute!

You run towards it, twisting out of Flowey’s hold.

The dog barks happily at you, letting go of its baggage and starts licking you on the face.

“GREATER DOG! I AM SO PLEASED TO SEE YOU FREE!” Papyrus sweeps you both up in a hug.

“Make it stop slobbering on Frisk!” Flowey scowls.

Great Dog doesn’t seem to care. He jumps out of Papyrus’s arms and circles around the bag it was holding. A very strange bag that is actually not a bag but a person.

Oh dear, a body?!

“Look it killed someone!” Flowey says, sounding more excited than afraid.

“GRILLBY?!” Papyrus gasps, lifting the fire (?) monster up. You’ve never seen a fire monster with glasses on before. This Grillby seems to be stirring awake, his hands and face beginning to flare wildly but Greater Dog looks at you expectantly and motions towards Grillby’s shoe.

A silver scar! A shard! There on Grillby’s ankle!

“HOT!” Papyrus drops Grillby when he starts shooting lava-like shots at him.

 _Not Papyrus._ You dive towards Grillby, rolling on the ground and ignoring Flowey screaming at you as something burns against your back. Greater Dog leaps above but you find that shard and you yank it out.

Your fingers are crusted with red again, you try to catch your breath.

“HUMAN, GRILLBY, GREATER DOG! ARE YOU ALL ALRIGHT?” Papyrus reaches you first, cupping your face and investigating for scratches. He spots your hand and glares at Grillby, “I KNOW YOU WERE CURSED, GRILLBY, BUT YOU MUST TAKE CARE OF THE HUMAN! THEY ARE VERY FRAGILE!”

Grillby’s light seems to mute for a moment, as he stares at you and Papyrus in silence. Ash shadows his cheeks and you’re about to ask what’s wrong when Greater Dog jumps in the way and starts slobbering over your face and hands.

“GREATER DOG!” Papyrus swats him away, “DON’T LICK THE HUMAN’S BLOOD! THAT IS UNSANITARY! NO, I DON’T CARE HOW MUCH YOU THINK IT HELPS, IT DOES NOT! WHO IS THE HEALER HERE?”

“Alright, you fucks, move over!” Flowey pushes them all away and wraps his vines seven times around your arm. “Not again,” he mutters over and over, “I’m not going to let go again.”

All of the voices, Papyrus roaring at Greater Dog to stop his dog-medical-nonsense, Greater Dog barking over him, Flowey swearing at them all, starts to make your head spin. Who do you talk to first? Why won’t they stop yelling? You’re fine, you’re _fine_ , you got the mirror shard out, didn’t you, please stop _shouting—_

Warm arms pull you from Greater Dog and Papyrus after your wound closes up and you look up to see Grillby who bows his head solemnly at you.

He whistles and the ash on his cheeks move into the air, forming hand signs. [ _I am sorry. Thank you for helping me_.]

You gape at him in all.

‘So cool,’ you mouth. Ash blossoms against his cheeks again and you swear you see smoke coming from his ears.

You can’t help but smile and lean in against his hold. He’s so warm! You haven’t felt so delightfully warm in ages. If only all the monsters you ran into were made of fire but then you remember Toriel and fridges and stairs and blood and you regret that thought.

“Too. Hot!” Flowey gasps and you move Flowey to the top of your head instead. He breathes out better.

“ALRIGHT, YES, YOU’VE SAID YOUR THANKS, GRILLBY, BUT I CAN CARRY THE HUMAN NOW IF THEY ARE TOO TIRED,” Papyrus opens his arms.

Grillby just turns away.

Papyrus looks gobsmacked.

Before Papyrus can say anything else, Greater Dog barks, growls and yips several times. You and Flowey look to Papyrus for a translation.

“HE SAYS THAT HE IS SORRY THAT HE GOT CAPTURED BY THE KING BUT HE MANAGED TO ESCAPE BEFORE ANOTHER SHARD COULD BE PLANTED IN HIM. THEN HE DECIDED TO HELP YOU ON YOUR QUEST AND BRING YOU THE CLOSEST CURSED MONSTER HE COULD FIND. WHICH WAS GRILLBY. APPARENTLY HE WAS TRAPPING MONSTERS IN HIS RESTAURANT AND MAKING THEM EAT. EVERY SECOND. ALL THE TIME.”

Grillby huffs, his flames drooping and you pat him on the shoulders. He hangs on to you tighter.

“HE ALSO SAYS THAT YOU SHOULD HURRY TO UNDYNE’S VILLAGE FIRST BECAUSE SHE’S PLANNING ON LEADING A HUNT FOR YOU, HUMAN!”

“Well shit!” Flowey starts looking around wildly. “If the Captain of the Royal Guard is rounding up monsters to look for you, Frisk, then we don’t stand a chance once they fan out! These guys are highly trained and loyal to— _well_ , that guy! They know how to kill. And keep killing. We can’t let them find you. We gotta run!”

“NO! THIS MIGHT BE OUR ONLY CHANCE TO SAVE UNDYNE BEFORE SHE RUNS OFF INTO THE FOREST! WHO KNOWS WHEN WE WILL FIND HER EXACT LOCATION AGAIN?!”

Greater Dog barks in what must be agreement.

You nod and sign to Grillby. [ _Do you know Napstablook’s house? You can go there for safety._ ]

Grillby doesn’t move.

[ _It will be dangerous in Waterfall Village. We don’t know if freed monsters can come back after they die anymore._ ]

Still, Grillby doesn’t budge.

“Hey, are you stupid or something? Go to the crying ghost’s place so Frisk can stop worrying about you and we can move on to important things. Like getting our asses to a _safer place_ ,” Flowey waves his leaves around.

Puffs of ash form hands again from Grillby’s flames. [ _I will stay with the child_.]

“BUT GRILLBY, YOU COULD DIE!”

His flames rumble. [ _I will stay with the child._ ]

“Urgh, never mind, bring him along. If he dusts, I want 10 G.”

You want to argue but Grillby pulls you close to his chest and the warmth from his flames makes you want to curl up forever. This should be fine for a little while. If the situation gets too dangerous, maybe Sans will appear and teleport you to where Undyne is like last time with Napstablook…

Papyrus just follows behind Grillby, glaring daggers at him while Greater Dog gnaws on a spare bone.

-

Luckily, Napstablook has a good eye in drawing maps. The route they drew leads you all towards the more forested part of Waterfall Village, near the top of the largest waterfall there. You have a perfect view of the houses below but the roaring water makes it difficult to hear things.

[ _Will you be alright?_ ] you ask Grillby, concerned when the spray from the waterfall gets thicker in the air.

[ _Made of magic_ ,] he shines a bit brighter to show you. [ _Will be fine_ ,] he blows a hot breath against your hair. You giggle.

Papyrus grumbles something about show-offs.

Waterfall village is gorgeous. You wish you had a camera so you could take a picture. Compared to the rest of the creepy forest, this place is like something from a fairyland postcard. The village itself seems to float in a valley-like lake. All around the village, waterfalls drip down in several curved stone steps, like staircases to a domed cathedral. Echo flowers in different shades of green, blue and purple light up the bottom of the waterfalls, alone with gorgeous crystals that sparkle like stars. You see pretty pink lotuses floating peacefully on the bottom of the lake and each house is raised up on braided wooden stilts.

Papyrus was right, the streets really are made of water. So many different canoes and gondolas float parked by each house or whoosh freely around the lake. You see long wooden docks and bridges for people to walk from house to house if they don’t want to swim or use boat. Some of the wooden bridges have little pipes to play wooden xylophones on and you hear bell-flowers tinkle in the breeze.

Yes, there are trees here, in the middle of the lake, but they are smooth as ivory piano keys. Their leaves are wide and lush like giant bird feathers and their roots, seen through the water, are like little homes for fish to swim through.

What did the rest of this region look like before the forest-curse began? You wish you could remember.

“There!” Flowey whispers in your ear, pointing towards a small gathering of canoes directly below.

Monsters in all sizes float in the water itself or on the canoes. There are puppy-looking-cats with hair (?), knights, wizard looking things, whimsels in armour and one-eyed creatures. All of them grumble and cheer when a very tall, menacing figure rises up on a small geyser as a platform.

“Undyne!” Papyrus whispers.

“Alright, losers, you heard what the King ordered yesterday! There are still humans out there to be added to our collection and the King wants one little punk in particular! Some wimp named Frisk! Remember they have a red cloak on and to bring them to the King alive! Course,” she takes off her helmet, showing a menacing row of sharp teeth, “doesn’t mean we can’t take out our frustration on the shrimp first.”

Everyone around her roars in approval.

“I don’t get it,” Flowey frowns, “why aren’t they attacking each other? Why are they getting along?”

[ _Didn’t the King order—_ ]

“No, even with the King’s orders they’d still be arguing or at each other’s throats. The curse makes you the worst version of yourself and feeds you a need to kill,” Flowey recites.

Grillby shakes his head.

“What? You calling me a liar?!” Flowey grows two feet, towering over Grillby’s height.

Grillby just shrugs. [ _I do not know you well enough to say. But Undyne found a loophole in the system._ ]

Papyrus looks torn. “Loophole? But Why Hasn’t She Told Others About It?”

Grillby’s flames flare up. [ _Because the cost is—_ ]

“Yo, if anyone needs to blow off any more steam, this is your last chance!” Undyne shouts, her voice carrying all over the village. “If I catch any of you wailing on your fellow monsters because you neglected to let loose, I will pummel you myself! Now go! You got thirty minutes!”

[ _Steam?_ ] you ask. But Grillby steps back, blocking your view below. [ _Hey, we need to see!_ ]

Grillby shakes his head. [ _Better if you don’t look_.]

“Don’t tell us what to do!” Flowey snaps. “Yo, Papyrus, give Frisk a lift!”

“Happily!” Papyrus nearly shouts as he scoops you away and holds you tight against him. He leans over the edge of the cliff, right next to the waterfall, so you can all see where the monsters are heading below.

Grillby tries to pull Papyrus and you away but Greater Dog shakes his head ‘no’ and tackle-sits on Grillby’s chest.

Is there a secret door behind the tallest waterfall? Is that why Undyne and the others reach their hands in the cold falling drops?

Smoke rises from Grillby. He wiggles his hands around, ash forming quick signs but you can’t look away. Because, is that really, no…!

Undyne pulls out a human, chained to the rocky surface behind the heavy waterfall. Beside her, the other armoured monsters do the same. So many humans chained up by the wrists, looking pale and blue and small. So many humans moaning from exposure to air.

“Remember to let out all your anger on ‘em! Don’t want to hurt any other monsters when you’re done!” Undyne orders.

The monsters all nod and start their attacks.

Papyrus covers your eyes and backs away but you _feel_ them die and come to life. Die and come to life.

“What… What IS T-That?!” Papyrus’s phalanges dig into your temple.

“Oi, let go of Frisk so they can see Grillby sign,” Flowey snaps.

Papyrus moves his hand down but clamps it on your cheek, as if letting go will make you fall into the waterfall chains below.

[ _The curse acts on feelings of negativity, hatred and anger. Undyne realized that if you focus your anger on one particular group, you can spare other creatures the pain of being killed every day. That is why Waterfall Village is still intact with many monsters co-existing peacefully… They take out their anger on the human inhabitants._ ]

“B-but… _BUT THE HUMANS!_ ”

“It’s… kind of fucked up but I can see why she did it.”

“FLOWEY?!”

He scoffs, “Don’t be so naïve, Papyrus! Would you rather hurt someone you love or some random strangers you barely talk to, huh? Not everyone has the luxury of being protected from themselves!”

Papyrus’s hold feels more like a cage suddenly after experiencing Grillby’s warmth.

“S-STILL! I Would Find ANOTHER Way! There Is ALWAYS Another Way!”

Flowey just stares at Papyrus. “Sometimes you don’t have a choice.”

[ _Stop it!_ ] you manage to crawl out and put your hands up between Flowey and Papyrus. [ _Arguing about this won’t do anything! We need to help them. ALL of them!_ ] You turn to Greater Dog and Grillby, [ _Is there any way you think we can get Undyne alone? Does she know that you have both been freed?_ ]

Greater Dog barks.

“He Says That Undyne Probably Knows About Him. But Undyne Regularly Welcomes Monsters Into The Village. She Has Been Trying To Recruit Grillby For A While, So Maybe If Grillby Walks In and Pretends To Go On A Rampage?” Papyrus translates as quietly as he can.

[ _Absolutely not!_ ] you stand up. [ _What if Undyne accidentally kills him?! It’s too dangerous!_ ]

Grillby simmers. [ _But what of the danger to you?_ ]

Unimportant, you want to say, but you turn away to the edge of the cliff. You listen to the screams.

You can die and come back. You don’t know if Papyrus, Grillby and Greater Dog can. If you can prevent them pain, then you will.

The cloak in your fingers feels worn and frayed, little threads dangle all over.

[ _Flowey, can you help me?_ ]

“If it’s a plan that will get you killed again, no.”

You can’t help but smile. [ _Why do you have to be so g-r-a-v-e about it?_ ]

“I hope you get torn up in a blender.”

[ _Blenders are not part of the new plan. But it should start a s-t-i-r,_ ] you wink, hoping that smiles will get everyone on board with your idea, [ _Ever wonder if you look good in red, Flowey?_ ]

-

Flowey does look good in red, at least in your opinion. Papyrus hemmed and hawed as the position of the cloak on Flowey’s four-foot figure for about ten minutes before he shrugged and said he did his best.

“It Would Be Better In Blue,” Papyrus shrugs.

[ _I used to have a blue cloak,_ ] you sign before you know it.

“Wonderful! I Am Sure You Looked Great In It! Is It At Your Home?”

You frown. Come to think of it, Blue is your favourite colour. You vaguely recall not being able to part with that blue cloak. Maybe it ripped and you had to get a new one?

“Can we hurry it up? We can get Frisk all the cloaks they want later. Let’s just free Undyne already!”

[ _Agreed_ ,] Grillby nods, giving one last hug to you, [ _though personally I think Frisk looks adorable in red._ ]

Papyrus looks ready to explode about blue but thankfully Greater Dog distracts him by gnawing on his arm.

[ _Remember that you’re the back up. Don’t come down unless you have to_ ,] you tell them. [ _Promise me!_ ]

Papyrus frowns. “I Still Want To Accompany You. What If—”

[ _I will be fine. I always am, aren’t I?_ ] you smile. [ _And if I get in trouble, you’ll come when I call you._ ]

“Y-YES!” Papyrus blushes orange. “Of Course I Will!”

Grillby doesn’t say anything, only simmers as Greater Dog sits on him again.

With any luck, you will get this right on the first try and Papyrus won’t need to get caught in the crossfire. With any luck, Papyrus won’t realize that you lied and you won’t call him.

-

You and Flowey creep down to the water and untie a boat. Together, you row the boat to one of the nearest houses and then you step onto the wooden dock. Flowey frowns in your red cloak, still holding onto the oars in the boat.

“This is a terrible plan.”

[ _Didn’t you say that you wanted me out of harm’s way?_ ]

“Doesn’t mean I’ll enjoy being bombarded with spears! Got Papyrus’s bone attack?”

You nod.

He looks like he’ll say more but he shakes his head.

“Hit hard, Frisk. You’re allowed to be angry for once in your life.”

Then he extends his leaves and paddles the boat towards Undyne.

-

Should have been simple. Flash a bit of your red cloak in Undyne’s vision. Get her to chase Flowey across the water, to where you’re hiding behind a door.

Hit Undyne on the head with a bone and then drag her towards the shore so you can search for the shard. Simple. Quick. Though part of you wonders if this is the right way to free Undyne. Shouldn’t you listen to her anger like you have for the other monsters?

Then the door to the house you’re hiding behind opens. Then you turn around and see the Monster Kid from before, growling at you.

 _No_ , you think, _don’t yell, don’t yell—_

They grin at you, teeth glinting in the glow of echo flowers.

“ _UNDYNE!_ ” Monster Kid screams, “THE HUMAN IS _HERE!_ ”

Monsters jump out from all of their homes. Their eyes glow like fire and lightning. Towering over you, big hulking beings that breathe out menace dressed in scales and teeth and boney claws.

All at once, they reach towards you with glowing attacks and you run, you try to, but one slip and you’re falling backwards into the water, fumbling between surface and garbled blue and you reach out but—

Blades cut through the water, piercing your hand and you scream but you also _can’t_. Water swallows your tongue, digs deep into your throat, tries to claw apart your stomach. _Let me in, let me in,_ it seems to roar which each hungry tear, _don’t you want to be part of me?_

Everywhere you look, water surrounds you, claws into you— _let me in_ —and you don’t know which way is up or down anymore. Everything is blue, the water tosses and turns you round and round, so happy that you’ll become a part of it and—

( _No_ , X _h_ XXa hisses in your ears, _you’re not allowed to leave me, Frisk. I won’t **let** you. **B R E A T H E.**_ )

Your heart-thing rips out, the glow fighting back against the blue. And your neck goes tight, as if glass shards have come together and decided to strangle the water out of you.

( _Get up_ , X _h_ XXa orders.)

And your feet begin to kick.

( _Breathe,_ X _h_ XXa orders.)

And you gasp for air.

A squid-looking creature with big eyes rushes towards you with white pellets in the air.

( _Survive,_ X _h_ XXa orders) as your hands clench into fists. ( _Kill._ )

You nearly fall back into the water.

( _What are you waiting for, Frisk?_ X _h_ XXa demands, _Kill. If you want to survive. **Kill**_ **.** )

You look back at the white line running through your heart, glinting, mocking. You’re cursed too, didn’t Sans say so?

( _Kill them!_ X _h_ XXa yells, _Don’t you want to LIVE?!_ )

NO! You kick back into the water, letting it pull you back. Can’t hurt someone again. You ignore X _h_ XXa screaming in your ear. Won’t. There’s always a choice, you tell yourself while X _h_ XXa roars that you’re going to die and it will all be your fault. Everything.

That’s alright. Hasn’t everything always been your fault?

X _h_ XXa goes silent.

Another blade nearly splits you in two, streaking bright green into the deep. A spear. It’s a glowing green _spear_ and the force of it throws you out of the water, onto a stray boat. Your back feels like it will snap and you can’t stop yourself from coughing up blue.

A scaly hand wrenches you up, lets you dangle like a worm on a hook.

Undyne. She has Flowey crushed within her other hand. His face scrunches up like a rotten potato as he tries to gnaw Undyne’s fingers off. But her armor protects her from such attacks. Your red cloak hangs off her back like a torn flag dragged out from enemy lines.

She scowls at you, her one eye seething with disgust.

“So… _you’re_ the brat that the King wants, huh?”

The monsters all around jeer and demand blood.

Undyne smiles like a shark about to eat its next meal. “Sure, I could take you to see Asgore now. But you’ve pissed a lot of my guys off. They could use something to punch,” she turns towards the crowd and raises you up for them to see, “Let’s _string the kid up with the others!_ ”

Their deafening cheers shake the waters.

“Why don’t you _eat dust instead?!_ ” Flowey explodes, growing seven feet and taller.

Undyne throws him off, summoning spears to stab him through the head while she holds you under her arm like a log.

No, you shake your head at him. No fighting. Please stop fighting.

No one can hear you.

“Give me back _FRISK!_ ” Flowey summons a barrage of pellets. Undyne dodges them quickly, parrying them back with her spear while summoning a cycle of spears in all directions towards him. Flowey just dies into the water and pops back up with another arsenal of pellets, firing them all at once.

Water explodes all over the village, some houses collapse into the lake from the damages and other monsters try to help, throwing their blades at Flowey or summoning shields to cover Undyne.

So much dust mixing in with the water.

You bang your hands against Undyne’s arms but you’ve never had good upper arm strength. Your blows much feel like taps or light-hearted pokes. Why can’t you have a whistle or something?! Anything to draw their attention to you instead!

“LET THE HUMAN GO!” you hear and you stare up in horror at Papyrus and Grillby rushing in by the borders of the village (Grillby riding on Greater Dog’s shoulders because of all the water.)

At once, Undyne freezes, her smile brittle as ice. “…Papyrus?”

Some of the monsters whisper, “Isn’t he the one that kept MK prisoner for a bit?”

“His brother let him _out?!_ ”

“Kill him too! He’s a human lover!”

“ _Shut up!_ ” Undyne orders. “Capture Papyrus and his conspirators! _Alive and unharmed!_ ”

All the monsters scramble forward, rushing towards Papyrus, Grillby and Greater Dog with more eerie excitement than you’d like. You can’t let any of them get dusted. Can’t take the chance that they won’t come back.

But Undyne returns her attention to Flowey and they continue dueling mercilessly, destroying the environment around them. You want to throw up from all the frenzied movements Undyne’s made.

You hear Papyrus shouting about peaceful negotiations while Greater Dog barks viciously at his attackers. Can’t let Papyrus dust. Can’t let Sans down.

( _Then fight,_ X _h_ XXa’s voice returns, triumphant. _You have no choice now._ )

There’s always a choice.

And you have a different way of fighting.

You reach up to Undyne’s helmet and cover her eyelids. She flails backwards, her spear dropping into the water as she tries to wrench you off. Instantly, you kick away and fall out of her grip. Before she can act, you run and jump over the water to the nearest boats you can and you wave your arms towards Papyrus.

[ _Leave me!_ ] you try to sign to him, [ _Stop fighting and l-e-a-v-e!_ ]

For a minute, you think maybe he’ll listen. Maybe he sees you. Maybe you can return to your original plan and have Flowey knock out Undyne and run.

For a minute, you think you see a flash of blue magic. Sans, maybe. Coming to help. To rescue you all.

But the moment Papyrus turns and meets your gaze, five monsters jump on top of him and tie him up.

Undyne ropes your red cloak around your neck like a noose. She wraps it around your limbs so tight that you might as well be drowning in red.

-

When you open your eyes, your wrists are shackled up in iron and you can barely see or breathe under all the water pounding on top of you from the waterfall above. The rumble of water, like the earth falling apart around you, pounds in your bones. What’s left of your cloak swirls down in the water as pieces of scrap fabric.

A man chained besides you wails out. Further beyond him, you see other children chained up. You try to get a closer look but all you know is that they’re shorter than you and difficult to see beyond the waterfall curtain. The woman next to you lies silent like a water-logged corpse. She looks familiar. If her face was fuller, her hair less grey, her skin tanner, her limbs unlike sticks, then she’d look like…

( _Don’t think of that bitch now,_ X _h_ XXa interrupts, _you got bigger fish to fry._ )

You’d laugh, but water keeps rushing into your nose. And your wrists are so numb you feel like floating into the abyss.

In your head, X _h_ XXa snorts in disgust.

Suddenly, the waterfall rises up like a curtain, all the droplets hovering above like little snowglobes floating in space. Despite your fatigue, you can’t help but stare in awe.

Everyone else shackled against the stone walls mutters in relief. Some of them beg for food but a few guards slap them quiet.

Undyne steps towards you, the helmet off her head. Her scales glitter against the glow of echo flowers, flowers that repeat the moans and screams of the humans near their wall. She looks menacing and powerful, like she’ll squash you with her foot in a second.

You’re so hysterical, you almost wonder if she could have been a pirate in another life with that eye patch.

“Looks like you’re awake, wimp. Good. Got some monsters eager to kill you a few times before we send you to the King. We’ll send word as soon as we get this… rush… out of our systems and Asgore will be here in the morning to take you and put some shards back your victims.”

“Mmmmmf!” you see Papyrus, Grillby, Greater Dog and Flowey tied up in chains, cloth jammed in all their mouths. You’re amazed the cloth hasn’t burned in Grillby’s mouth yet.

“Well?!” Undyne punches the wall beneath your wrist suddenly. “Aren’t you going to _say_ something?!”

You open your mouth. And close it. If you could speak, maybe you could have stopped things from escalating this far.

Punch! “Answer me you _freak!_ What do you have to do with the mirror?! With Asgore?!”

Papyrus, Grillby and Flowey look ready to rip Undyne apart. You close your eyes. _Sorry I can’t save you. Sorry you have to see me this way._

“That human only signs! They can’t speak. Never could,” the Monster Kid pipes up.

“Pfft!” Undyne kicks the wall by your hip. “Fucking typical. Fine then. I’ll untie you for a bit. And you’ll answer my questions. Then, I kill you. For as long as I like.”

She throws a spear to your chains and you fall down into the water, the iron shackles weighing you down until Undyne fishes you out, holding you by the collar of your shirt.

“Now _answer me!_ What do you have to do with the mirror?! What did you do to Asgore, freak?!”

[ _I don’t know!_ ] you can barely sign, hands slipping and shaking in the cold. [ _I’m just trying to free everyone. That’s all I want!_ ]

She stares at you oddly, as if you spoke in a foreign language unknown to monsters or humans. Then her shoulders shake and she laughs, her grip on your shirt growing tighter and tighter.

“ **Free us?!** As if you want to **free us** , human! It’s **your kind** that trapped us in this curse **in the first place**!”

What? But… didn’t the King…?

You look at Flowey but he stares at his roots instead.

“What? You didn’t **know?!** Those mirror shards, stuck in every person’s soul in this mount-forsaken forest, were created by **human magic**. Humans, stupid bastards, aren’t meant to use magic, not like us monsters. Everything a human touches gets corrupted by their selfish thoughts. The mirror was created out of greed. Supposed to grant whatever wish a human or monster made. But monsters aren’t stupid enough to make wishes for things they don’t need. Humans though… Humans are _made_ of stupidity. What did you all wish for? Eternal life? World domination?” Undyne gestures to the sky blocked by tree cover, “Well, looks like you got your wish! Except the mirror made it **hell** instead, you **selfish assholes**! Why couldn’t you just **leave it alone?!** ”

You’re shaking now and it isn’t because of the cold.

“Must have been one heck of a wish. Humans have shitloads of **determination** when they want something. The mirror loves that shit, feeds on it. You know what the worst part is? A normal monster, no determination at all, could make a wish and maybe only get a curse cast on themselves. A human though? Even the least determined of you lot? Curses a city. A town. A human with **determination** to destroy whoever they need to, in order to get what they want? Complete chaos.”

This can’t be. This can’t _be_. Why would anyone make such a thing? Why would anyone take the risk and wish?

“Gotta admit. Not being able to die? That’s not so bad. But you humans couldn’t stop there with these fucking curses could you? No, you had to make it so that no matter how much **willpower** a creature has, if they see the one they love most… they **have to kill them**. No matter how much they fight, **they will kill them again and again.** ”

Oh. Tears flood into your eyes as you stare at Papyrus in horror. _Oh._ You think of Toriel eagerly killing you over and over, unable to stop. Think of Sans ever following his brother at a distance. Napstablook all alone.

“And I can’t stop it. I’m supposed to be the **strongest** and yet I can’t even rip this stupid shard out of my head. I can’t rip _anyone’s_ shard out! Monsters can’t touch the mirror. Hurts us. Funny how humans don’t mention the fine print when they invent their shitty artifacts! But are any humans **determined** enough to break out of this stupid curse? Nah, _no!_ You’re all a bunch of fucking liars, here to play games and crush out dreams. Fuck you.”

Undyne drops you into the water and for a moment, you consider never floating back up.

But as you bob up to the surface, you hear, “…have any idea what it’s like? Not being able to see her? Help her? It’s like… it’s _like…!_ ”

Her voice cracks.

You touch her leg and sign, [ _I’m so sorry. But please… I can help you_.]

Undyne’s face shatters into a crazed, malicious grin. “What the **hell** am I telling you this shit for? You’re just going to trick me with your human bullshit. No. Let’s fight. I need to kill you at least seventy times before I’ll be satisfied.”

A dozen spears manifest in the air.

You barely have time to duck underwater.

-

**Before:**

Sam’s eye dribbles red after a satisfying crack and you feel a rush. _That’s what you deserve for hitting_ X _h_ XXa. You throw again and again.

Sam begs for mercy.

But you don’t listen. He didn’t give X _h_ XXa a chance, so why should you do the same for him? He’s scum. He’s a bad guys from cartoons. He hurt _them_ and now they _won’t get up._ If you could scream, you would.

“P-please, s-stop it!” he tries running, but you have good aim.

Keep throwing. Have to make him _hurt._ Make him pay.

Only when he goes silent, curling up in a ball and whimpering in the same way X _h_ XXa does when they have nightmares, do you drop the stone and stumble back on the ground.

W h a t   h a v e   y o u   d o n e   ?

-

**Now:**

You dive right. Left. Left. Right. Left. Right. Right. Right. Left. Right. Again and again. You barely know how to breathe anymore, what the difference between water or air is. Undyne keeps attacking you and you can’t get close to her. Barely know where that shard could be.

Papyrus, Grillby, Greater Dog and Flowey thrash more wildly, attempting to get their chains untied. You see Flowey try to shapeshift larger several times but the chains seem to be magic. Special, somehow. Countering any spells that Papyrus, Grillby and Flowey attempt. Greater Dog’s attempts at chewing the chains apart are left unsaid.

Think, think. Can’t let it end here. If Undyne kills you once, you’ll barely be coherent enough to move when you revive before she kills you again and again.

You try to spot any silver scars on her hands or face. Nothing. But what about under her armor? Her hair? But she’ll never take those off! You don’t know where to begin. You don’t know what to do. She won’t listen to any of your attempts to sign, won’t respond to your dance moves. Can’t get in close enough for a hug.

Your heart-thing dims the longer you keep going.

Pain! You sink back into the water, nursing your leg, skewered through the foot.

Undyne starts laughing, throwing more spears towards you. She looks like vengeance personified. She looks like a goddess of justice trying to piece order back into the world.

You have to try. At least one last time.

[ _Please,_ ] you try to float and sign at once, [ _I don’t want to fight…_ ]

The spears pause in mid-air as the smile slips off Undyne’s face. “I don’t want to be cursed, either.”

The spears rain down on you.

An explosion of orange light distracts you momentarily from upcoming death. All you see is bones, circling the air and Papyrus storming over, water be damned, somehow free from his chains and you blink and then—

Spears gut your neck and stomach.

Papyrus roars enough to rattle the dead.

Ah, so funny. Have to remember that when you wake up… is death usually blue?

-

**Before:**

Mother paces back and forth in the hospital, muttering and twisting her fingers together. You barely know what she’s saying. You can’t stop looking at your hands.

Doctors come and go. They say X _h_ XXa will be alright. Just a mild concussion. Overnight observation.

Mother won’t stop twisting her fingers together. She doesn’t smile at the news.

“What about that boy? What if his parents sue? Oh, Frisk, you’re supposed to be the _good_ one! How am I supposed to pay them back? Your XXX won’t pay and I don’t have _anything_ …”

[ _They won’t sue_ ,] it’s the first thing you’ve signed since a few adults found Sam, X _h_ XXa and you in the park.

She gapes at you. “What are you talking about?! They’re rich! Of course, they’ll suck the money—”

[ _They won’t_ ,] you sign again.

After all, you heard what the ambulance said, what Sam’s parents said. Even if Sam had a concussion like X _h_ XXa, his parents wouldn’t have sued.

“You stupid girl,” his mother had hissed, pulling a wig off his head, “are you trying to embarrass me?! I’m transferring you to a different school, Samantha, this has got to stop…”

Sam’s tears traced over the blood on his face like he was crying red.

[ _Because they’re scared of him_.]

Mother snorts. “Wouldn’t surprise me. That monster nearly killed X _h_ XXa!”

So did you.

When you burst into tears, hiccupping and shaking on the bench, Mother still doesn’t understand.

-

**Now:**

“—OW COULD YOU KILL FRISK?!” howls a voice that could embody the angel of death, from Toriel’s story. It sounds like it could shake mountains, make forests tremble in its wake.

You shiver and something warm hugs you closer.

Slowly, you blink and see Grillby, his flames hot blue as he stares into the distance. When you tug at his tie, he shifts back to orange and pats your neck and the hole in your shirt. Oh. You died.

When you shiver again, Grillby moves to put his suit jacket around your shoulders. [ _Rest_ ,] he signs, [ _let us take care of you_.]

Against your head, Greater Dog licks your cheek. He growls at any monsters that come near, summoning up pellets to keep them away.

“Take that you fish-witch!” you hear Flowey cackle in the distance.

Flowey?! Papyrus?!

You jolt up, despite Grillby’s protests, and stare in horror at Papyrus, eyes blazing orange, throwing bone attack after bone attack at Undyne’s spears, while Flowey sits proudly on his shoulders.

“Stop protecting that freak, Papyrus! It’s the _humans—_ ”

“FRISK HAS DONE NOTHING TO HURT YOU! BUT _YOU_ , YOU _HANG THEM UP_ LIKE _AN ANIMAL_ AND THEN YOU SKEWER THEM LIKE A DOLL!”

“They made that _wish—_ ”

“ANYONE COULD HAVE MADE THAT WISH—”

“Monsters couldn’t—”

“MONSTERS _COULD!_ ” Papyrus sends his bones spiraling towards Undyne in an unpredictable barrage. “JUST LOOK AT _YOU_.”

Undyne falls back, a bone cutting grazing against her arm. Her ponytail falls apart, casting shadows on her face.

[ _Papyrus stop!_ ] you sign. But he’s not looking at you. No one but Grillby and Greater Dog are.

“You wanna fight, punk?!” Undyne roars back, “Then we’ll fight!”

But Papyrus doesn’t give her the chance to. Orange after orange pins her against the nearest waterfall, just across from where the human prisoners hang. Undyne snarls at Papyrus who fires more attacks until all of her armor is pierced through with bone.

“Well?” Flowey hisses when Papyrus stands before Undyne, his last attack hovering in the air above her chest, “What are you waiting for? Kill her!”

Papyrus’s hand shakes.

“She _killed_ Frisk. Finish her off!”

No. You tear away from Grillby and swim across the water.

“She’ll just come back anyways. How else are we supposed to get the shards?”

“BUT…!”

Greater Dog tries to pull you back but you kick harder. Faster.

“Don’t you get it?! It’s _kill or be killed_ here! Frisk keeps dying because they _refuse_ to kill! _We_ have to do it for them!”

You gasp, head bobbing up in the water as you see Papyrus slowly move the last bone attack closer to Undyne’s chest, his jaw clenched.

“…For Frisk…”

The bone clatters down into the water, just inches from where you swim.

“I… I CAN’T…! FLOWEY, WE SHOULD—”

“ _Fine!_ ” Flowey transforms, menacing and alien as he leaps towards Undyne. “I’ll do it _myself!_ ”

‘Stop!’ you jump out, arms outstretched.

Flowey’s vines freeze mere millimeters in front of your throat.

“What are you doing, Frisk?! _Move!_ ”

You shake your head.

“I won’t be weak anymore. If I have to kill everyone who crosses your way, than I will. Now _move!_ ”

[ _No! I understand why you’re angry, believe me, I do, but I can’t let you kill her!_ ]

“I can’t feel _emotions_ ,” Flowey snarls, a statement that you’re starting to believe is (forgive your language) bullshit, “I’m being _logical._ Kill her and take the shard as she reforms. That’s the only method that makes sense. It doesn’t _matter_ if she dies.”

[ _Y-E-S, it D-O-E-S!_ ] you sign aggressively, [ _A-L-L death matters here! Even if it doesn’t stick! It still H-U-R-T-S!_ _Trust me, I would know!_ ]

Flowey shrinks back, leaves quivering. “I don’t… I don’t _understand…_ if it hurts… than why…?”

_Why bother?_

That question unsettles you, makes you want to curl up and look away from the world. Didn’t Sans ask you this once? Did… Did X _h_ XXa? You wish you could remember. But all you can recall is the incident with Sam, the breakdown with Mother in the kitchen. Sporadic unconnected things.

[ _I… I just don’t want to hurt anyone…_ ] you look at your hands, [ _… Mercy is hard. That’s why… it’s a choice._ ]

Flowey falls back to the size of a normal flower, face blank. Maybe horrified.

“What’s going on?!” Undyne bellows behind you, “What’s the freak signing?!”

Papyrus looks ready to speak up, but surprisingly, it’s the Monster Kid that answers, with a conflicting expression on their face. “They said that they don’t want you to die because each death hurts. They said… each death _matters_.”

Undyne snorts. “Bullshit!”

No one replies because you take that moment to face Undyne and you start pulling the spears out of her armor.

“…What are you doing?”

You tug at the next spear, pulling with as much strength as you can, before it slips out and you fall back into the water.

“Stop that! If you free me, I’ll kill you! Don’t you get that?!”

Another hand reaches out. Papyrus. He starts pulling the spears out by hand too.

“You can’t change what I’ve done, who I’ve killed!”

Greater Dog hops over with Grillby on his back and they start moving spears too.

“ _Stop it!_ ” Undyne shakes, “I killed so many of you… just _stop!_ ”

You let go of the spear in your hands and the others do the same.

“Just kill me already,” she spits out.

You refuse.

“Do it so I can hate you, damn it!”

Your arms tremble, but slowly, you stand on your tip-toes and extend your hand towards her face. She closes her eyes too quickly to be afraid. Almost eager for a blow.

You lightly tap her cheek with a fist instead and catch a stray tear on your knuckles.

Her shoulders slump.

“…You’re so weak… Heh, kind of reminds me of a girl I wanna see again… Alright. Fine. I’ll bet on you, punk. My shard… it’s under my eye patch. Pull it out before the curse tries fuck me up again. Do it quick.”

You nod, stretching up to tug at her eye patch. It’s hard when you can’t reach. But hands wrap around your waist and lift you up. When you look back, Papyrus smiles gently at you.

Together, you both pull the shard out, Papyrus’s hand enveloped over yours.

-

Undyne doesn’t cry when her shard is torn away. She just chuckles to herself and grabs you and Papyrus in a crushing hug.

One by one, she rounds up the villagers and lets the prisoners down. With spears, she boxes every monster in a crude cage of spears crisscrossed against each other until you can free each one.

A rabbit woman named Blue cries and asks for her daughter as soon as you free her. You wonder how long it’s been since they’ve seen each other.

Her daughter and sister aren’t freed until you reach the end of the line and the daughter hugs you tightly in relief. A polar bear falls backwards, muttering apologies while dinosaur-looking creatures rush towards Monster Kid before they’re freed and have to be restrained until you can find the Monster Kid’s shard on their back.

Monster Kid shakes, curling up in a ball before they run to his parents, crying.

Each time you pull a shard out, the growing crowd of freed monsters inch further away, muttering prayers as you piece the shards together into a bigger piece of the mirror. Undyne remains a quiet, menacing presence behind you while Grillby and Papyrus refuse to leave your side. Greater Dog ran off to reunite with Lesser Dog, Dogamy and Dogessa a while ago.

Flowey still hasn’t spoken, carried on Papyrus’s shoulders. You feel his absence from around your arm like a missing limb.

When you reach the human prisoners, you free the children first. They’re difficult. Waving their hands around, kicking and punching at you until you figure out one likes to talk about ribbons while another kid loves ballet too. Talking distracts them enough for you to find their shards. They all look uncannily familiar… but you move on to the next humans, determined to free the entire village before you ask more questions.

Finally, you reach the last prisoner. The woman who was hanging next to you.

You freeze, recognizing her now without the waterfall spilling paint over your eyes.

Papyrus feels your hand stiffen.

“FRISK? IS SOMETHING WRONG?”

You move towards her, reaching for her palms. You already know where the shard will be.

Not just one shard. But ten. Each one jammed into her fingers.

“What the hell?” Undyne hisses. “I’ve never seen more than one before…”

You start pulling them out right away.

 _She_ recoils, but you hang on until each shard is pulled out and stare at her when you’re finished.

“Oh my god… oh my god, _oh my god_ , I can’t believe I… and to my own _husband_ … Where… Where is he? Did you find him? Is he here?”

You shake your head before Undyne can answer.

 _She_ looks at you and goes deathly still.

[… _Mom?_ ] you sign, hopeful.

She just stands up, head turned away.

You reach for her sleeve. Mom, _please…!_

“I don’t know you. Excuse me, I have to find my husband…”

This has to be a mistake. You tug at her sleeve again but she wrenches her arm away.

“I said, _I don’t know you!_ ”

Your eyes burn up. You’d know that face anywhere, even if you forgot. You know her. _You know her_. But she doesn’t want to know you.

[ _I’m sorry_ ,] for this and anything you’ve forgotten, [ _I must have mistaken you for someone else_.]

 _She_ looks stung, like she might stay and say something more. But Grillby puts a hand on your shoulder with blue fire and Papyrus glowers.

Undyne smiles viciously as _she_ walks away.

-

“FRISK…? DO YOU WANT TO TALK?” Papyrus asks hesitantly while Grillby refuses to let go of your hand.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Of course they don’t wanna talk! We should punch something! Or play aggressively violent music _so loud_ that the _bitch_ will hear it and—”

“UNDYNE, THAT IS _NOT_ HOW YOU PLAY THE PIANO!”

“You know what, Papyrus—”

“Frisk!” the Monster Kid from earlier runs towards you from the crowd. “Um,” they look nervous, “Can I talk to you?” They look at Grillby, “Alone?”

Grillby still looks ready to burn the entire forest down but you smile gently at him and he lets go.

Quietly, you and the Monster Kid move towards the edge of the wooden platforms and you look at them curiously.

“I… I’m super sorry!” Monster Kid bows their head down over and over. “You must think I’m a total jerk, I can’t believe I did that to an old friend—”

[ _Friend?_ ] you frown.

“Oh Mount, I’m being an idiot. Of course, you don’t to be my friend after that. I tried to kill you! And then I told everyone where you were and—”

[ _Did we know each other before this?_ ]

Monster Kid’s jaw drops.

[ _It’s just that… I don’t remember anything before… all this_ ,] you sign quickly, [ _I remember some things now but not everything. Not yet. I was hoping I’d find someone who knows me and could tell me more about myself_.]

“You really… you really don’t remember?! Holy Mount, that’s terrible! Okay, well you obviously know your name. Um, I’m MK, by the way, short for Monster Kid,” huh, guess you remembered more than you thought, “and we met when I was waiting at the bus stop and you offered me your umbrella! We used to hang out all the time at the park! Oh and sometimes your freaky twin would show up too—”

Your breathing almost stops.

[ _Twin?_ ]

Monster Kid scowls. “Yeah, Chara’s such a jerk. Where are they anyways? Is Asriel with you guys? Frisk? Hey, Frisk, are you alright?”

Your knees are trembling. Oh. Is that the ground?

“Frisk?! Frisk! Guys, Frisk just fell down! No, not like _dust-_ fell-down but _collapsed-_ fell-down and I didn’t do it okay?!”

You have a twin.

Their name is Chara.

And you forgot them.

 

Interlude: Papyrus

Just stress. That’s what Blue tells everyone after she checks on Frisk’s vitals. Frisk still hasn’t woken up. MK looks like they want to melt into the floor and never come back.

Papyrus can’t stop pacing. He should have interfered sooner. Should have trapped Undyne in a cage of bones and let Frisk talk to her. Should have talked with Frisk more, told them to confide in him.

How can he be the Great Papyrus if he can’t even protect one small human? The human that saved his life and his brother’s?

He’s not stupid. He _knows_ very well why Sans hasn’t spoken to him, hasn’t appeared in front of him. It’s easier to pretend he doesn’t. Make Sans happier.

But he’s done pretending.

He marches out of Blue’s house and goes towards the edges of Waterfall Village.

“SANS,” he calls out. “I KNOW YOU’RE THERE.”

Nothing moves, not even the leaves in the trees.

“BEFORE YOU BLINK AWAY, I HAVE A _BONE_ TO PICK WITH YOU. AND YES, I DID PUN. NOW I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, DON’T I?”

He sees a faint blue glow beyond the bushes but no matter how much Papyrus wants to, he doesn’t step forward.

“I KNOW WHAT YOU TOLD THE HUMAN. I KNOW YOU TOLD THEM TO PROTECT ME. THAT’S WHY THEY HAVEN’T INCLUDED ME IN THEIR PLANS. THAT’S WHY THEY WON’T LET ME PROTECT THEM IN RETURN.”

The glow glares brighter.

“BUT YOU DON’T NEED TO PROTECT ME ANYMORE, SANS. I KNOW. _I know_ WHY YOU’RE DOING THIS. BUT I AM NOT AFRAID OF DEATH, BROTHER. I AM NOT AFRAID OF BEING HURT.”

“don’t be an idiot, papyrus,” he hears and Papyrus can’t help but laugh.

The bushes rustle in annoyance.

“I AM SORRY. I AM JUST… GLAD. YOU HAVE NOT SCOLDED ME SINCE I WAS A BABY BONES. I AM ALWAYS THE ONE SCOLDING YOU.”

The glow dims.

“I SAW YOU EARLIER. WHEN UNDYNE KILLED FRISK. YOU WERE READY TO DESTROY HER, WEREN’T YOU?”

No answer.

“DO NOT DENY IT, I SAW THE EXPLOSION OF BLUE MAGIC UP ON THE CLIFF AND THE GASTER BLASTERS… YOU ONLY STOPPED WHEN I GOT IN THE WAY. YOU DID NOT WANT TO HURT ME. EVEN NOW, YOU STILL TRY TO PROTECT ME.”

Chains rattle in agitation.

“BUT SANS, IF YOU CONTINUE AIDING THE HUMAN THIS WAY… YOU WILL START TO CARE FOR THEM TOO. YOU ALREADY _ARE_. IF YOU DO, YOU WILL HAVE TO HURT THEM. AND I AM SORRY, BROTHER, BUT I CANNOT LET YOU DO THAT. EVEN IF I HAVE TO LOCK YOU UP MYSELF.”

Finally, he sees Sans stand up, his figure covered in shadow.

“if you do that, all i can say is thank you.”

Papyrus doesn’t bother covering his tears. “YOU NEVER NEED TO THANK ME, SANS. I AM YOUR BROTHER.”

And this time, Papyrus will be the one to do the protecting.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in Teacher's College right now and I'm doing my practicum so updates will be slower this month. Likely I will pick up the pace with updating again in December but we'll see how things play out while I'm at school. I'm learning a lot and I want to focus on becoming the best teacher I can be while practicum is happening this month :)
> 
> I will probably draw a lot to de-stress and post fanart of this fic up during the month. You can follow my art blog ( youlighttheskyart.tumblr.com ) or writing blog ( youlighttheskyfanfiction.tumblr.com ) if you want specific updates for the art. I would follow the art blog because updates on there are more sporadic and easier to track. Thank you everyone! You mean a lot to me <3


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